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THE 



1/ 

HISTORY 



MODERN 1&REECE, 



WITH A VIEW OF THE 



GEOGRAPHY, AKTIQU[[^IES, 



PRESENT CONDITION OF THAT COUNTRY. 



FROM THE LONDON EDITION, 

OTCtfi a Couttuuattou of tiie i^tstoru, 

TO THE PRESENT TIBIE. 



BOSTON : 

PUBWSHED BY NATHAN HALE CONGRESS STREET. 

WiUi&m L. Lewis Printer. 

18 27. 



HISTORY 



AND 



DESCRIPTIOIV OF MODERN GREECE. 



This volume is a republication of part of a periodi- 
cal work, edited with much care and ability, and pub- 
lished in London, called the Modern Traveller. The 
numbers of that work relating to Greece in particular, 
here republished, appear to have been compiled with 
much labour and discrimination, from the great mass of 
materials which very recent travellers have afforded, to 
illustrate the Geography and history of that country. 
The interesting struggle which is now carried on in 
Greece, the very contradictory accounts which have 
been laid before the public, of the progress of that 
struggle, and also of the state of society and manners 
among the inhabitants, and the intimate and satisfac- 
tory acquaintance with the present situation of the 
country, afforded by the united testimony of so many 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

travellers as have lately visited it, and published the 
results of their observation, present a favourable oppor- 
tunity for inviting the attention of the public, to a con- 
nected and summary view of the most important par- 
ticulars which have been thus brought to light. The 
work was first published in the summer of 1 826, and 
it brought down the sketch of the war in Greece only 
to the end of the year 1825. In the present volume 
a supplementary narrative is given of the incidents of 
the war, to the date of the latest accounts from Greece, 
in April last ; when, in consequence of the arrival of 
Lord Cochrane, and of some important additions to 
the naval force, the termination of some of the dissen- 
sions by which the country has been distracted, and 
the efforts to establish a more efficient government, a 
brighter prospect was opening. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

BOUNDARIES, 9 

ON THE PROPER APPLICATION OF THE TERMS GREECE 

AND GREEK, 10 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE, ..... 13 

NATURAL HISTORY, 18 

POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND POPULATION, .... 22 

WORKS OF MODERN TRAVELLERS IN GREECE, . . 27 

HISTORY OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION, .... 30 

STATE AND CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, .... 41 

HISTORY OF ALI PACHA OF lOANNINA, .... 45 

ORIGIN OF THE HETARISTS, 87 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION, .... 94 

FALL OF TRIPOLITZA, 102 

CONGRESS OF EPIDAURUS, 106 

DESTRUCTION OF SCIO, . . . . . . .ill 

FIRST SIEGE OF MISSOLONGHI, 121 

CAMPAIGN OF 1822, . . 126 

CONGRESS OF ASTROS, 133 

CAMPAIGN OF 1823, 135 

STATE OF AFFAIRS AT THE ARRIVAL OF LORD BYRON, 142 

CAMPAIGN OF 1824, 146 

FALL OF IPSARA, 146 

STATE OF GREECE AT THE BEGINNING OF 1S2J5, .151 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
SIEGE AND FALL OF NAVARINO, 154 

SECOND SIEGE OF MISSOLONGHI, 162 

STATE OF PARTIES IN THE AUTUMN OF 1825, ... 167 
CHARACTER A^'D DEATH OF ODYSSEUS, . . . .172 

INTERVIEW WITH IBRAHIM PACHA, 178 

POSTURE OF AFFAIRS AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTH 

CAMPAIGN, .179 

THE MOREA. 

NAVARINO, 184 

MODON, 187 

CORON, 190 

FROM NAVARINO TO ARCADIA, 191 

FROM OLYMPIA TO ARCADIA, .195 

FROM ARCADIA TO MESSENE, 198 

MESSENE, • 200 

FROM SCALA TO MAINA, 203 

KALAMATA, 208 

KIIRIES, 211 

KARDAMOULA, 218 

MARATHONISI, 225 

CHARACTER AND HISTORY OF THE MAINOTES, . . 229 

CERIGO, . . ■ 233 

FROM MARATHONA TO MISTRA, . . . . . .235 

FROM LEONDARI TO MISTRA, 237 

MISTRA, 242 

SPARTA, .... 249 

FROM MISTRA TO NAPOLI DI MALVASIA, .... 257 

TRIPOLITZA, • .... 258 

FROM ARCADIA TO TRIPOLITZA, 261 

ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF LYCiEUS, . . ' . . 269 

KARITENA, 273 

MEGALAPOLIS, 275 

FROM TRIPOLITZA TO ARGOS, • . 282 

TEGEA, , 282 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

MANTINEIA, 286 

ORCHO.MENOS, 286 

ARGOS, 288 

MYCEN^, 299 

TIRYNS, 314 

NAPOLI DT ROMANIA, . . • 318 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MODERN GREEKS, . 323 

FROM NAPOLI TO EPIDAURUS, 327 

GROVE OF ^SCULAPIUS, 330 

EPIDAURUS, . • 337 

FROM EPIDAURUS TO DAMALA, (TR(EZEN) . . . .338 

METHANA, 342 

ISLAND OF KALAURIA, . • 345 

HYDRA, 347 

SPEZZIA, 355 

FROM ARGOS TO CORINTH, 357 

NEMEA, . 358 

CORINTH, 363 

THE ISTHMUS, 376 

FROM CORINTH TO MEGARA, 380 

FROM CORINTH TO SICYON, ....... 386 

FROM SICYON TO ARGOS, 391 

FROM SICYON TO PATRAS, 392 

FROM TRIPOLITZA TO PATRAS, 397 

PATRAS, . 413 

FROM PATRAS TO OLYMPIA, 419 

ELIS, 420 

OLYMPIA, -427 

HELLAS. 

FROM PATRAS TO SALONA, .433 

DELPHI, -440 

THE CORYCIAN CAVE, 455 

ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF PARNASSUS, ... 457 
THERMOPYLiE, 46S 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

FROM DELPHI TO ATHENS, 468 

LIVADIA, 470 

ATHENS, 475 

^GINA, 479 

HISTORY OF THE WAR CONTINUED, .• ... 481 

SIEGE OF MISSOLONGHl, 482 

INTERVENTION OF CAFT. ABBOTT, 483 

FALL OF MISSOLONGHl, 486 

FAVIER'S EPFEDITION TO NEGROPONT, . . .490 

THIRD NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT EPIDAURUS, ... 490 

INACTIVITY OF IBRAHIM PACHA, 493 

SIEGE OF ATHENS, 493 

MOVEMENTS OF THE TURKISH AND GREEK FLEETS, . 495 
IBRAHIM'S INVASION OF MAIN A, ...... 496 

ARRIVAL OF STEAM BOAT PERSEVERANCE AND FRIGATE 

HELLAS, .497 

FEEBLENESS OF THE GREEK GOVERNMENT, . .498 

ATTEMPT TO RAISE THE SIEGE OF ATHENS, ... 499 

DEATH OF COL BURBAKI, 500 

ARRIVAL OF LORD COCHRANE, 501 

APPOINTMENT OF COUNT CAPO D'ISTRA, .502 

SUPPLIES FROM THE UNITED STATES, .... 502 



MODERN GREECE 



Greece lies between lat. 36° 15' and 40° N., and long. 20° 
10' and 24° 5' E ; and is bounded on the north by Albania 
Proper and Macedonia ; on the east by the Egean Sea ; on the 
west by the Ionian Isles ; and on the south by the Mediterranean. 

Three centuries and a half have elapsed since, by the ces- 
sion of the ]\Iorea to the Ottoman conqueror of Constantinople, 
the name of Greece was blotted out from the map of Europe. 
It had long been reduced to a mere name. From the time that 
Alliens fell before the arms of Sylla, (B.C. 86,) it had ceased 
to be an independent powe'r. When tlie master of the Roman 
world removed the seat of empire from Italy to Thrace, 
Greece was still nothing more than a province of Rome ; and 
the historian remarks, that " in the lowest period of degeneracy 
and decay, the name of Romans adhered to the last fragments 
of the empire of Constantinople."* 

It is not ti'ue, that the "majesty of Greece fell under the sci- 
mitar of Mahomet II." Jt had long been despoiled of its hon- 
ours by Christian invaders ; and the pillage of Constantinople 
by the Latin barbarians, in the fifth crusade, was not surpassed 
in horrors by that which ensued on the Mussulman conquest. 
In the partition of the empire by the French and the Vene- 
tians in 1204, Greece, " the proper and ancient Greece," again 
received a Latin conqueror in the Marquis of Montferrat, who is 
described by Gibbon as treading with indifference that classic 
ground. " He viewed with a careless eye the beauties of the 
valley of Tempe, traversed with a cautious step the straits of 
Thermopylae, occupied the unknown cities of Thebes, Athens, 
and Argos, and assaulted the fortifications of Corinth and Napoli 

^ Gibbon. 



10 MOBERN GREECE. 

di Romania, which resisted his arms."* The fertile island of 
Crete was purchased of the Marquis by the Venetians, " with 
the ruins of a hundred cities," and colonised with the refuse of 
the Adriatic. Sclavonian robbers had desolated the peninsula 
before the Turks became its masters. AH of ancient Greece 
that had noj perished, consisted of its language, its monuments, 
and its haunted and teeming soil, — its " vales of evergreen and 
hills of snow," — 

"The sun, the soil, but not the slave, the same : 
•Unchanged in -all, except its foreign lord." 

" Some confusion,", remarks an accomplished Philhellenist, 
" has been occasioned by the different ideas attached by various 
writers to the denominations Greece and Greeks. When they 
are exclusively restricted to those commonwealths that took part 
in the Pelopennesian war, or those that sent deputies to the coun- 
cil of Amphictyons, Macedonia, Epirus, and Constantinople will 
be without their limits ; and if a wider range be taken, there 
will be danger of confounding with the descendants of the Hel- 
lenes, many nations of perfectly different origin, but whose reli- 
gion and habitual language have embodied them with the Greeks. 
The Wallachian colony that occupies the passes of Pindus and 
the frontiers of Thessaly and Macedonia, is distinguished from 
its neighbours by the preservation of a dialect retaining much 
more of the Latin than any of its other derivatives. They are 
supposed to have acquired this idiom from the Roman colonies 
planted by Trajan upon the Dacian frontier. A Sclavonian 
race is immediately distinguishable in the figure, countenance, 
, and habits of tha Albanian : his native idiom bears also marks of 
the same origin. But the common tongue of both these tribes, 
even among themselves, is Greek ; and few of the Albanian 
colonists of Peloponnesus retain even a recollection of their ori- 



* Gibbon, ch. 61. "It was evident," says Daru, "that this division of the 
empire would in a short time ruin the power of the Latins in the East. 
Powerful enough to destroy, they were not sufficiently so to preserve. When 
we read, in Viilehardouin, of the conquests which this and that prince under- 
took with a hundred or six-score knights, we seem to be reading of the expe- 
ditions of the lieutenants of Pizarro or Ferdinand Cortes ; and one is morti- 
fied to see the descendants of the Greeks and the remains of the Roman empire 

treated with such contempt These possessions were conceded to barons with 

titles hitherto unknown in the East. The earl of Blois was duke of Nicea ; 
Viilehardouin, marshal of Romania. The novelty of the titles bespoke the 
great change which had taken place in the constitution of society ; and Greece 
must doubtless have been astonished at beholding an earl of Naxos, a prince 
of Lacedaemon, a duke of Athens." — Histoire dt Venise, lib. iv. sec. 37. 



MODERN GREECE. 11 

ginal language.* Mussulmans in their native mountains, the 
Albanians have generally assumed the Greek faith in their emi- 
grations to the south, and are supposed to be equally negligent 
of both. Thessaly, Boeotia, Attica, and the eastern Morea, are 
full of their villages ; and the effeminate Greeks are gradually 
yielding to a more hardy race, the care of the flock and culture 
of the field. 

" When the Russians, after their abortive expedition to the 
Morea, left its inhabitants, without protection, to the fury of 
their masters against whom they had rebelled, the Turks, too 
indolent for the work of slaughter themselves, turned the Albanian 
bloodhounds upon that devoted region ; nor was the task they 
had given them neglected. All the Morea, northward of the 
impervious mountains of Maina, remained many years in the 
possession of an unrestrained banditti. Some of these robbers, 
no doubt, setded in the country which they had pillaged ; but 
the tall, strong figures and sandy countenances of many of the 
peasants in Argolis and Arcadia, refer their Sclavonian blood to 
a much earlier date. The despot of the Morea is said to have 
had Albanians in his service ; and Gibbon mentions several 
irruptions of Sclavonians into that country so early as the eighth 
century. At present, the majority of the smaller villages is cer- 
tainly occupied by the descendants of Sclavonians ; and the pure 
Greek blood is more lilcely to be found in the islands of the 
Ai'cliipelago, than upon the continent, except in some singular 
cases. Eastward of the Strymon, the Albanians are but thinly 
scattered ; but the Bulgarians, who occupy the ancient Thrace, 
are united, by the Mussulmans, with both Albanians and Greeks, 
in the common appellation of Giaour or infidel, and agree with 
them in religion and in the general use of the same tongue. "f 

The claims of the modern Greeks to the sympathy and aid 
of Christian Europe, cannot depend on the geographical, or 
rather historical question which relates to the proper application 
of the name. Their right and title to the soil, on the ground of 
inheritance, would seem to be not much more valid than that of 
the Welsh, the genuine Britons, to the sovereignty of the British 
isles. Whether, then, the Mainotes are descended, as they 
boast, from the ancient Spartans, or from Laconian pirates ; 
whether the Hydriotes are Hellenists by descent, or belong, as 

* Mr. Leake states, tliat the descendants of the Albanian colonists who, 
about two centuries ago, settled in Boeotia, Attica, and Argolis, still speak the 
Albanian tongue. — Outline, S^c. p. 9. 

t Douglas (Hon. F.S.N ) on certain Points of Resemblance between the An- 
cient and Modern Greeks. 8vo. pp. 40—43. (3d edn. 1813.) 



12 MODERN GREECE. 

has been contended by a modern traveller,* to " the worst and 
lowest species of Albanians ;" whatever be the origin of the 
various tribes of the peninsula, or how mixed soever they may 
be with Sclavonic or Venetian intruders, their cause is the cause 
of freedom and of humanity. Like the Copts of Egypt, they are 
doubtless both a mixed and a degenerate race. Still, the inter- 
est attaching to them as- Greeks, and which, in spite of all that 
may be said against them, must attach to their name, linked as it 
is witli every classical prepossession and with the proudest his- 
torical recollections, — this interest belongs to the soil, not to the 
race. Their substantial claims are those of a persecuted and 
oppressed people ; the accidental interest of their cause arises 
from the dialect they speak and the country they occupy. It is 
felt as a violence done to every association, an incongruity in the 
political state of things, a disgrace to human nature, — that Greece, 
the cradle of western learning and the birth-place of liberty, 
where the language of Homer and Pindar and Plato is still the 
vernacular tongue, should be the seat of Tatar barbarism and 
Mussulman intolerance, peopled only by tyrants and by slaves. 

The distinguishing, perhaps we might say the redeeming 
characteristic of the mo^dern Greeks, — that bond which still 
unites the mixed tribes as one people, and at the same time con- 
nects them with the country and its ancient masters, is their lan- 
'■ guage ; — that brilliant phenomenon, alike wonderful in its pre- 
servation and in its origin, which has survived the political revo- 
lutions of thirty centuries, and which, disdaining to blend with 
the barbarous idioms of successive invaders, has triumphed over 
the Latin itself, and still vindicates its claim to be the only indi- 
genuous language of Greece. f Disguised as it is in the Romaic 
by various dialects and perhaps a corrupt pronunciation, it retains, 
if we may be allowed the expression, all its vital force, and is 
almost daily resuming more and more of its original character as 
embodied in the ancient' literature. The little Greek spoken 
in Asia Minor, on the contrary, is nearly unintelligible to the in- 
habitants of the Peninsula, on account of the number of Turkish 
words with which it is interlarded. | Thessaly and the northern 
provinces have adopted' the barbarisms of Albania, and an Italian 

« Sir W. Gell. 

t " The Greeks have preserved their original tongue in greater purity during- 
an equal extent of years, than any nation with whicli we are acquainted, per- 
haps with the single exception of the Arabians ; and 1 believe, the contempo- 
rary of William of Malmsbury or of Froissart would lind more difliculty in 
conversing with his modern countrymen, than any Athenian of the purer 
ages With his." — Douglas, p. 91. 

:f See Mod. Trav., Syria and Asia Minor, vol. ii. pp. 134; 155, 6; 173. 



MODERN GREECE. 13 

may generally be substituted for a Greek word at Athens and in 
the Morea. Tiie IMegareans speak a language much less corrupt 
than what is spoken in Attica. The harsh and guttural utter- 
ance of the Mainotes has been remarked b}^ more than one trav- 
eller. In Crete, where few e\^en of the Turks understand their 
native tongue, the Romaic is universally employed in conversa- 
tion, and appears to have retained the greatest number of ancient 
Greek words. Strange to say, the purest Greek is spoken by 
the Fanariots of Constantinople, many of whom employ the 
ancient idiom with as much facility as if it were sdll in general 
use ;* but this is the result of cultivation. In Greece Proper, 
it seems to be the very effluence of the climate and the inspira- 
tion of the scene. 

Upon the whole, the Greek language may be said still to pre- 
vail, more or less, over the whole of what was anciently consid- 
ered as included in Hellas ; namely, from the Tagnarian promon- 
tory to Upper Macedonia, together with the islands and coasts 
of the Egean Sea ; and these are the countries that will now^ 
come more immediately under our observation. The division, 
political and military, which has been, adopted by the Greek 
government, is that of Eastern Hellas, Western Hellas, the Mo- 
rea, the Islands, and Crete. To this we shall adhere, adverting 
only occasionally to the ancient and other modern divisions. 
But first, we shall take a o;eneral view of the i 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

The long chain of mountains which, stretching across Euro- 
pean Turkey from east to west, divides Servia and Bulgaria from 
Romelia and Albania, sends out two secondary ranges, one of 
which, the ancient Rhodope, runs in a south-easterly direction 
to the Sea of Marmora ; the otlier, improperly termed the 
Pindus Chain, separating the ancient Illyricura from Macedonia, 
extends southward through the whole of Greece, terminating in 
the Corinthian Gulf, while various collateral ranges on the 
western side, traverse Albania, and extend to the shores of the 
Gulf of Arta. This mountain barrier, dividing the country 
longitudmally into two unequal portions, separates what is now 
termed Eastern from Western Greece ; while, in the parallel of 
39**, its lateral branches extend quite across the continent, from 
the celebrated pass of Thermopylae on the shores of the Maliac 

" The dialect spoken by the Greeks at Joannina^ is considered as one of 
the pui-est forms of the Romaic. 



14 MODERN GHEECE- 

Gulf, to the coast of Acarnania. This is the range known 
under the name of Mount CEta, which separates the plains of 
Thessaly from BcEotia. A double barrier of mountains divides 
the isthmus from Continental Greece, wliile an apparent prolon- 
gation of the great longitudinal chain traverses the whole of the 
peninsula, terminating in the rocky coast of Maina. 

The Boeotian plains terminate to the north-west in the valley 
of Phocis and Doris, watered by the Cephissus and its branches, 
wliich have their origin in Mount CEta. This valley separates , 
the mountains that rise from the Gulf of Corinth, and which 
anciently bore the names of Helicon, Corax, Parnassus, &c., 
from the mountains of Locris, the ancient Callidromus and 
Cnemis, which are a prolongation of Mount CEta, and the north- 
ern face of which looks down on the valley of the Spercheius and 
the Maliac Gulf. These two ranges are united in the region 
of the ancient Doris ; and from their junction, the central chain 
of Pindus continues in a N. or N.N.E. direction, gradually 
inclining towards the coast of the Adriatic, and giving off collat- 
eral branches which-, intersect Albania. For about a hundred 
miles, this elevated range is nearly equi-distant from the eastern 
and western coasts. 

In Western Greece, a series of plains and valleys lie be- 
tween Mount Pindus and the irregular range which borders the 
entire extent of the western and southern coast. At some dis- 
tance from the eastern extremity of the Gulf of Arta (the ancient 
Ambracia), which divides Epirus from Acarnania, rises a steep, 
woody mountain, now called Makrinoro (or Makronoros, the 
Long Mountain), which constitutes a pass of great strength 
and importance, corresponding to that of Thermopylae at the 
eastern end of the CEtean range, and completing the barrier 
between Eastern and Western Greece. To the north of this 
ridge rises the vast and apparently insulated mass called Tzum- 
erka ;* and still loftier mountains, rising to the N. E. and N. 
of this, divide the valley of the Aracthus or river of arta, from 
that of the Aspropotamo (the ancient Achelous). These moun- 
tains are commonly known under the name of Agrafa : as 
seen from the elevated plain of loannina, they appear to fill 
up, in the distance, the interval between the Tzumerka and the 
narrow and lofty ridge called Metzoukel, which separates tlie plain 
of loannina from the deep valley of the Aracthus. Immedi- 
ately beyond the river commences the ascent of a lofty group, 
the successive ridges of which conduct the eye to summits, sup- 

* Supposed bj' Dr. Holland to be the ancient Tomarns. 



MODERN GREECE. ' 15 

posed to be not less tlian 7000 feet above the level of the sea. 
These inountains, which now bear the name of the Greater 
Metzovo are, apparently, the very nucleus of the chain of Pindus. 
The town of Metzovo is situated near one of the sources of the 
river of Arta, in the bosom of these Alpine regions, and forms 
one of the most interesting geographical points in the country. 
From this part of the chain of Pindus, four considerable rivers 
take their rise, each pursuing its course to the sea in a different 
direction. These are, the Ai'acthus, which flows in a south-wester- 
ly direction into the Gulf of Arta ; the Achelous, which rises at no 
great distance, and takes a southerly course through a mountainous 
district, entering tlie Ionian Sea near Messolonghi ; the Peneus 
(or Salpnpria), which, rising on the eastern side of that part of 
Pindus iiiimediately above Metzovo, decends into the great 
plains of Thessaly, and pursues its course to the Archipelago 
through the precipitous defiles of Tempo ; and lastly, the Viosa 
(Vioussa), or Aous, which has its origin in the mountains to the 
north of Metzovo, and flowing in a N.E. direction to Tepeleni, 
enters the Adriatic near- tlie site of the ancient Apollonia. 

One of the principal routes over Pindus, in proceeding from 
the western coast, lies through the canton of Zagora, in which 
one of the branches of the river of Arta has its source, forming 
its junction with the Metzovo branch in the deep hollow between 
Metzoukel and Pindus. The Zagora mountains are distinguish- 
ed from most other parts of the Pindus chain by their summits 
spreadmg out into wide and open plains, instead of forming 
narrow ridges. Beyond Metzovo, in the same direction, is 
the ridge of Mavronoros, or the Black Mountain ; and stiU 
^further northward are the mountains of Tzebel and Samarina, 
wliich are believed to be anaong the most elevated points in Alba- 
nia. The chain continues to run northwards, dividing lUyricum 
from Macedonia, till it unites with the mountains that enclo-se 
the basin of the Danube. 

The upper ridge of Pindus, near Metzovo, appears to be 
composed entirely of serpentine. The exposed surface of the 
rock is every where covered with a yellowish green steatite, gen-. 
erally disposed in a sort of scales upon the serpentine, which is 
probably superposed upon primitive slate. The ridge intervening 
between the plains of loannina and the valley of the Aracthus, 
exhibits a series of layers of calcareous slate, apparently of re- 
cent formation, interrupted at intervals by rocks of limestone, 
which come down in abrupt cliffs to the channel of the stream. 
This limestone probably forms the basis of all the country west- 
ward of the river of Arta, and is the material also of the lower 



16 MODERN GREECE, 

parts of the Pindus chain on the eastern side. The bed of the 
river, however, and the channels of the streams which join 
it from the east, contain fragments of syenite, porphyry, and ser- 
pentine, and sometimes mica-slate, jasper, and conglomerate 
rock, indicating that the more central parts of Pindus are com- 
posed in part of primitive formations. In the valley of the 
Salympria, there is a most remarkable groupe of insulated rocks, 
composed entirely of a conglomerate, consisting of granite, 
gneiss, mica slate, chlorite slate, syenite, greinstone, and quartz 
pebbles. The origin of this formation, which is of a very lim- 
ited extent, presents an interesting problem to the geologist. 
Limestone, however, is the prevailing rock, for the most part 
cavernous, and with abrupt and precipitous faces. The whole 
chain of OEta, in particular, appears to belong to the great cal- 
careous formation of Greece. The general appearance of the 
limestone strikingly corresponds to that in the north of Ireland ; 
its colour, in general, is nearly milk-white ; it contains a great 
quantity of flint, either in layers or in nodules 5 and large de- 
posites of gypsum have taken place upon it, particularly near the 
coasts of the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The Scironian rocks 
on the southern coast of the Isthmus, consist of breccia, lying, as 
in Attica and over all the northern part of the Morea, on a 
stratum of limestone. In Thessaly, the limestone gives way to 
the serpentine breccia called verde antko ; and that curious 
aggregate of dark diallage and white feld-spar, called by Italian 
lapidaries bianco e nero antico, is found in Macedonia. Other 
varieties of porphyry occur also in Thrace, particularly one of 
hornblende, resembling lava, in the great plain of Chouagilarkir, 
near the foot of the Karowlan mountains, a branch of the an- 
cient Rhodope. But in Hellas Proper, with the exception 
above mentioned, to which may be added the breccia formation 
around Mycenae, and the substratum of the rock of the Acropo- 
lis at Athens, the mountains so uniformly consist of limestone, 
that scarcely any other substance can be met with.* 

The most fertile districts of Greece are Macedonia, Thes- 
saly, and the eastern parts of Phocis and Boeotia.f The 
agricultural produce of Attica, owing to the lightness of the soil, 

* These g-eological observations are taken chiefly from Dr. Holland's Trav- 
els in the Ionian Isles, &-C., and Dr. Clark's Travels, part. ii. 

t " Marathon, forg-otten in every other )respect, is now only regarded, as 
it was before its glory, for being tlie granary of the barren Attica .... Pindus 
and CEta, with their various branches, are impracticable to the Albanian hus- 
bandman ; though in the little winding valleys (the larvxai) i that intersect 
them, wesmay be secure of always finding a village with its surrounding fields 
of maize or cotton." — Douglas, p. 51. • 



MODERN GREECE. 17 

is confined to barley and olives. The Morea is said to be 
susceptible of every species of cultivation.* The mountainous 
region of Epirus is the most barren. Thessaly yields wool and 
silk ; and the soil of Macedonia is particularly favourable to 
tobacco : that of Yenige, on account of its balsamic odour, is 
preferred even to that of Latakia in Syria. Cotton also is ex- 
tensively cultivated. But the principal wealth of Macedonia 
anciently consisted of its mines. The most celebrated were 
those of the mountain Pangseus, from which Philip annually de- 
rived a thousand talents of gold ; and by means of the treasure 
thence extracted, he became the master of Greece. In the 
plain of Aita, one of the most fertile districts of Epirus, maize, 
wheat, rice, and tobacco are cultivated ; the vineyards are nu- 
merous, and the orange-tree and fig-tree are made objects of 
peculiar attention. The oak, the plane, and the chestnut, are 
the chief ornaments of the valleys ; and the vast precipices of 
the Pindus chain are clothed with forests of pines. The forests 
of the Morea are in some districts very extensive, especially in 
Elis and on the western coasts, which have long furnished oak 

* " The corn of the Morea has long been highly prized \n the adjoining 
islands, and its culture is proportionally extensive. Its barley, however, is 
not so much esteemed, and its Indian corn has never been exported. The 
Peninsula is by no means a country for wine, the greater portion of its con- 
sumption being imported from the Archipelago. Two species, however, are 
admired by the Greeks ; the wine of Mistra, and that of St. George in Corinth. 
Both are only of a light body, and acquire a disagreeable flavour from the 
turpentine with which they are purified. The grapes are neither large nor of 
fine flavour ; the best are produced at Gastouni. One species, however, the 
raisin de Corinthe (Zante currant), has been extensively cultivated of late 
along the shores of the gulfs of Lepanto and Salarais, where it has taken the 
place of tobacco plantations. Other fruits are likewise produced in abund- 
ance ; — lemons, not large nor peculiarly fine ; oranges, — the best are found 
at Calamata ; peaches, pomgranates, apricots, almonds and a variety of shell 
fruit. The figs, especially those of Maina, are remarkable for their sweet- 
ness. The markets of Napoli di Romania are plentifully supplied with cucum- 
bers, love-apples, spinnach, asparagus, and other vegetables. Olives abound 
in every district, but especially in Maina and Argolis. Manna and Indigo 
were formerly cultivated, but are now neglected, as well as the gathering of 
galls, which used to be found in every forest. Cotton was never grown in 
large quantities, but its quality was remarkably white and delicate. The 
culture of flax was but little known. The immense flocks of Argolis, Mes- 
senia, and the valleys of Arcadia, furnish a proportionate quantity of wool, 
the exportati.^n of which to the Ionian Islands, together with the sheep them- 
selves, and a little wine, constitutes the only remnant of the once extensive 
trade of Pyrgos." Large quantities of wax are still exported from Napoli to 
Syra. The barren and mountainous districts abound with beds of thyme, fen- 
nel, and mint , but the honey of the Morea is decidedly inferior to thet of 
Attica, and must be used with caution on account of its medicinal properties. 
Emerson's Journal in " Picture of Greece in 1825," pp. 314 — 18. 

3 



18 MODERN GREECE. 

and pine for the construction of the Hydriot vessels, and large 
quantities of vallonia for exportation to Zante and Malta.* 

The zoology of Greece, so far as known, does not appear 
to furnish many distinct species. The lynx, the wild cat, the 
wild boar, the Avild goat, the stag, the roe-buck, the badger, and 
the squirrel, inhabit the steeper rocks of Parnassus, and the 
thick pine forests above Callidia. The bear is also sometimes 
found here. The rugged mountains about Marathon are fre- 

* Among the extracts from Dr. Sibthorpe's papers, given in Mr. Walpole's 
Memoirs, will be found a valuable list of Grecian plants, with an account of 
their medicinal and economic uses. Of seventy ^irticles, the principal are the 
following : Pinus maritinia (tteukos) ; pinuspinea (ot't-uj) of the ancients ; now 
called, from the fruit, {kouhonaria) ; ■pinus picea. Quercus cBgilops ; q. ilex ; 
q. coccifera ; (q.cerris f) A'butus unedo {KOjiaQia), the fruit of wliich is esteem- 
ed a delicacy ; a spirit is also drawn from it, and a vinegar of a bright gold 
colour; the flutes {(fXovgia) of the Greek shepherds are made of the wood ; 
arbutus andrachne, the inmt oi which K not eaten. Rhus colinus, yielding a 
beauti.ful yellow dye ; the powdered fruit, called sumach by the Turks, is 
sprinkled upon meat as seasoning. Laurus nobilis {Ad(pvri),the most aromatic 
of the Greeek shrubs ; the oil expressed from the berries is used to anoint the 
hair. JVeriuni oleander (the ancient poSoSa(pvri) ; the flowers are used to adorn 
the churches on feast-days. Viiex agnus castus, the constant companion of 
the oleander ; the leaves yield , a yellow dj'e, and baskets and bee-hives are 
made of the twigs. Salix Babylonica. Pistachia lentiscus, — yielding the mas- 
tich ; p. terebinlhus ; the fruit is eaten, and an oil is expressed from it. Ju- 
nipet-us oxycedrus (Kiipos). Cercis siliquastrum. Daphne dioica, yielding a 
yellow dye. Myrlus communis ; Xhe fruit fiovpa is eaten in Greece, both the 
white fruit and the black ; the plant is used in garlands and to ornament the 
churches ; in Zante, a syrup is made from the fruit, and a purple colour is also 
obtained from the plant. Ficus carica. Hedera heiix. Juncus acuius. Cislus 
creticus ; the laudanum is not collected. Arum maculatum ; the root is used 
in the Morea, in times of great scarcity, instead of bread. Ceraionia siliqua ; 
the fruit is an article of commerce. Rhamnus Grcecus ; the berries yield a 
yellow dye. Populus nigra {\evKfi). Sambucus nigra; it forms the hedge to 
the vineyards about Livadia. Salsola fruiicosa ; the alkali obtained from it is 
used in the manufacture of soap and of glass. Jlmygdalus comjnunis sylvestris. 
Nigella Damascena. Echiiim Italicmn. Carihamuscorymbosus. Erigeron gra- 
veolens, — gives a green dye. Saiureia capiiatu {Bv^os), the plaiit to the flowers 
of which the Hymettian honey owes its celebrity. Erica muliiflora, — flowers in 
winter, and during that season furnishes the principal food of the bee ; but the 
honey made from it sells at half the price of that made during the summer from 
the wild thyme. Salvia arborea. Rubia peregrina ; the root gives a red dye. 
Hyoscyamus albus {Upbs) ; the leaves are used as an opiate in the tooth-ach, 
externally applied, or the fumes of the burnt seed are inhaled for the same 
purpose. Lolium temulentum {aipa), supposed to be the sizanion of the New 
Testament (Matt, xiii.) the ziwan of the Arabians, and the rosch of the He- 
brews : the seeds often become mixed with the corn, and when eaten produce 
violent giddiness. Smilax aspera ; the flowers are extremely fragrant, and 
ai'e put into wine to give it a grateful flavour ; the root is used as a depurator 
of the blood. Jlsphodelus ramosus. Jlmaryllis Ivtca, used as a coronary or 
ornamental plant ; and the Turks plant it on the graves of their friends. The 
mallow, the asphodel, and the myrtle, were anciently used for the same pur- 
pose. Malva sylveslris. used as a pot-herb. Scolymus maculalus, eaten as a 
salad. Scilla officinalis; the root is made into an electuary. Asparagus aphyl- 
}us; this is boiled and eaten during Lent. 



MODERN GREECE. 19 

quented by wolves, foxes, and jackals ; weasels are sometimes 
taken in the villages and out-houses ; hares* are too numer- 
ous to be particularised. The mole burrows in the rich 
ground of Livadia (Boeotia), and the hedge-hog is found in the 
environs of Athens. The otter inhabits the rivers and marshes 
of Boeotia, and the phoca and the porpoise are seen in the Cor- 
inthian Gulf and off the coast of Attica. The small species of 
bat flutters about the ruins of Athens, and a larger species in- 
habits the caverns of the island of Didascalo. 

The large vulture (ogreo) frequents the cliffs of Delphi, and the 
woods and precipices of Parnassus. There are several species 
of.the falcon tribe. Dr Sibthorp particularises what he supposed 
to be the ya?co chrysaetos (^called by the guide aeios),xhe falco 
ierax, and the falco kirkenasi. The latter, " half domestic, ar- 
rives early in the spring Vvith the storks in immense numbers, 
joint inhabitant with them of the houses and temples of the 
Athenians, and retires with these birds at the end of August." 
He noticed also a large grey hawk of the buzzard kind on the 
plain of Marathon ; another species, brown, with a white band 
on the wings, near Livadia ; and a small dark hawk near Cape 
Sunium. The little owl [strix passerina) is the most common 
species of Minerva's bird in Greece ; it abounds in the neigh- 
bourhood of Athens. The horned owl is sometimes, but rarely 
seen. The ash-coloured, the red-headed, and the small grey 
butcher-bird, frequent the olive-grounds. Of the crow tribe, 
the raven, the hooded crow, the jackdaw, the magpie, the jay, 
the alcedo ispida, and the Cornish chough, are found here. 
The latter generally confines itself to the mountainous parts, in- 
habiting the broken cliffs and caverns of Parnassus, but some- 
times decends into the plains. The hooded crow (called by 
the peasants %ogcovrj), which retires from England during the 
summer, is a constant inhabitant of Attica. The roller frequents 
the gardens and olive-grounds. The • cuckoo is heard early in 
the spring. The merops, attracted by the bees of Hymettus, 
appears at the latter end of summer. The hoopoe is also 
here a bird of passage. The sitta was seen on the rocks near 
Delphi. Wild pigeons abound in the rocks ; and the turtle 
and wood-pigeon are found in the woods and thickets. The 
red-legged partridge abounds every where. Among the larks, 
the crested lark is the most frequent ; but there are some of the 
other species. " Blackbirds frequent the olive grounds of 
Pendeli ; the solitary sparrow inhabits the cliffs of Delphi ; and 

* Taooshan, hare, is the nick name given by the Turks to the Greek island- 
ers. 



20 MODESN GREECE. 

the song-thrush is heard m the pine woods of Parnassus. Above 
these, where the lieights are covered with snow, is seen the 
emberiza nivalis, inhabitant alike of the frozen Spitzbergen and 
of the Grecian Alps. The bunting, the yellow-hammer, and a 
species of emberiza nearly related to it, haunt the low bushes in 
the neighbourhood of corn-fields." The goldfinch and the lin- 
net rank also among the Attic choristers ; and the fringilla 
jlaveola is not unfrequent about Athens. Of the slender-billed 
birds, the wheatear is the most general species throughout 
Greece, inhabiting alike the highest mountains and the lowest 
plains. The white water-wagtail haunts the banks of rivulets, 
and the red-start is found on the eastern coast. The king- 
fisher is also seen here. Various species of the duck tribe visit 
the salt lakes and the shores of Attica during the winter, retiring 
in summer to more unfrequented fresh-water lakes and deep 
morasses. Woodcocks, snipes, and bustards, in considerable 
numbers, visit the neighbourhood of Athens during winter. 
The curlew and the red-shank, the purple and the grey her- 
on, the long-legged, the grey, and the sand plover, also frequent 
the marshes of Boedtia and the eastern coast. The privileged 
stork generally arrives at Athens some time in March, and leaves 
it when the young are able to support a long flight, about the 
middle of August. The quail is another annual visiter. All 
the European species of the swallow tribe are found here, 
except the pratincola ; also, various species of motacilla, 
confounded under the general name of beccafica. The sand- 
martin burrows in the cliffs of Delphi, and the goat-sucker still 
retains its ancient name, and the stigma attached to it. The 
storm-finch, the sea-gull, and the sea-swallow are seen on the 
coast of the Egean Sea.* 

" One of the most agreeably diversified countries of the 
globe," says M. Beaujour, who was long resident in it, " is 
Greece : it is the epitome of all climates. .The plants which 
grow within the tropics, flourish in its plains and on its hills, and 
those of the most northern regions thrive on the mountains. 
Olympus, Pindus, Parnassus, the craggy mountains of Ai'cadia, 
preserve on their sides and summits a perpetual coolness, while 
the valleys lying at their feet enjoy a perennial spring. The 
lands unsusceptible of culture are still not destitute of vegetation, 
but produce spontaneously thyme, marjoram, and all the aromatic 
plants. Such a country would seem to be singularly adapted to 
yield rich pasture : accordingly, there are numerous herds. For 

* From the papers of the late Dr. Sibthorpe. Walpole's Memoirs, pp 
73— 7 ; see also pp. 255—273, 



MODERN GREECE. 21 

MX months of the year, indeed, it supports all those of the neigh- 
bouring regions. \Vhen tlie severity of the winter drives the 
Albanian shepherds from their native mountains, they descend to 
seek, in the tine climate of Greece, pastures more substantial 
and luxuriant. They enjoy the right of common in all the lands 
which ai-e not under cultivation ; and notwithstanding the tyranny 
of the Beys, who levy contributions upon them ^vithout mercy, 
their ^vinterin2;s in greneral cost them but little."* 

op ^ _ 

Nothing, it is said, can surpass the delicious temperature of 
the islands in autumn, and of the winter at Athens, where the 
thermometer rarely descends below the freezing point. The 
longevity of the natives bears testimony to the salubrity of the 
air of Attica, wliich was always esteemed for its purity, and is 
still the best in Greece. Its extreme dryness has greatly con- 
tributed to the admirable preservation of the Athenian edifices. 
The corn in Attica is ripe about twenty-five days sooner than in 
the Morea and in Crete, owing, it is supposed, in part, to the 
abundance of nitre with which the soil is impregnated. The 
olives and the honey are still the best in the world. f Many 
parts of Greece, however, are far from being salubrious ; and 
it is probable, that great changes have taken place in this respect, 
owing to the desolation spread hf war, pestilence, and oppression. 
The air of Corinth is so bad, that the inhabitants abandon the 
place during the summer months, through fear of the malaria, 
which is the scourge of the maritime plains. J 

Lord Byron pronounces the air of the Morea to be heavy 
and imwholesome ; but, on passing the isthmus in the direction 
of Megara, a strildng change is immediately perceptible. The 
transition is equally great after passing the ridges of Citheron. 

* Beaiijour. Tableau dn Commerce de la Gr^ce, vol. i. p. 136. The number 
of sheep in Attica was computed, in 1786, at 60,000; the goats at 100,000; 
and 10,000 g-oats and 5000 sheep were killed annually. " During the winter 
months," says Dr. Sibthorpe, " a nomade tribe drive their flocks from the 
mountains of Thessaly into the plains of Attica and Bceotia, and give some 
pecuniary consideration to the pacha of Negropont and the vaivode of Athens. 
These people are much famed for their woollen manufactures, particularly the 
coats or cloaks worn by the Greek sailors." — Walpole's Memoirs, p. 141. 

t Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 7. Mr. Hobhouse, who was at Athens in tlie depth of 
winter, speaks in more qualified language of the climate. " The weather was 
never so inclement as to prevent an excursion on horseback. To the northern 
constitution of an Englishman, the Athenian winters are not commonly so 
rigorous as, from ancient accounts, you might be led to expect. After having 
found it agreeable to bathe, a little before Christmas, at Thebes, where a poet 
of the country (Hesiod) describes the cold to be so excessive as to freeze up 
the spirits of all nature, animate and inanimate, and to inflict upon man him- 
self the miseries of a premature decay, it will not be supposed that the inclem- 
ency of Attica was by us severely felt." — Journey, <^c. letter 24. 
t Clarke's Travels, P. ii. § 2, ch. 9. 



22 MODERN GREECE. 

The climate of Attica, he describes as a perpetual spring ; rain 
is extremely rare, and even a cloudy day is seldom seen. Nei- 
ther in the Spanish peninsula, nor in any other part ol the East, 
except Ionia, in his Lordship's opinion, is the climate equal to 
that of Athens ; but " I fear," he adds, " Hesiod will still be 
found correct in his description of a Boeotian winter."* " The 
unwholesome marshes of Boeotia," remarks Mr. Douglas, " are 
inhabited by a race whom the vanity of the Athenians still de- 
spises as inferior beings." Speaking generally of the country, 
he says : " The mixture of the romantic with the rich, which 
still diversifies its aspect, and the singularly picturesque form of 
all its mountains, do not allow us to wonder that even Virgil 
should generally desert his native Italy for the landscape of 
Greece. Whoever has viewed it in the tints of a Mediterranean 
spring, will agree in attributing much of the Grecian genius to 
the influence of scenery and climate. "-j- 



POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND POPULATION. 

The limits of Greece are too indeterminate to admit of any 
very correct estimate of its territorial extent. Including the 
southern parts of Albania and Macedonia, as high as lat. 42°, it 
is about 400 miles in length by a mean breadth of 1 60 ; but the 
whole of Greece Proper does not extend in length above 225 
miles. Make Brun gives, as the result of a comparative exami- 
nation of modern accounts and maps, the following table : 

Square Miles. 

Eastern and Western Hellas, including Epirus, Thes- 

saly, and Livadia 14,915 

Morea 7,227 

Euboea (Negropont) and the other Isles 3,806 

Crete 4,613 



Macedonia 21,142 

Albania Proper 16,645 



* Notes to Childe Harold, canto ii. 

t Essay on Ancient and Modern Greeks, p. 52. 



30,561 

37,787 



68,348 



MODERN GREECE. ' 23 ' 

Greece, including die peninsula and the islands, forms, accord- 
ing to this computation, not quite a seventh of Turkey in Europe, 
or, togetlier with Macedonia and Illyricum, rather less than a 
third.'* 

The population of Greece has been very variously estimated, 
and the dreadful effects of the revolutionary struggle render it 
nearly impossible to ascertain with any accuracy the present 
numerical amount. While some wi'iters estimate the whole 
population of European Turkey at twenty-two millions, others 
reduce it to eight millions. By some, the Greeks have been 
supposed to amount to between two and three millions, but the 
Greek population of Asia Minor and the Crimea has probably 
been included. The Hon. Mr. Douglas thinks that, adopting 
Hume's estimate of ] ,290,000 as the total of ancient Greece, 
exclusive of Laconia,f the present inhabitants of the country in 
all probability greatly surpass their ancestors in number ; but 
" this computation," he adds, " will include all the natives of that 
country, whether Mussulmans or Christians, of whom the pure 
Greek race assuredly does not compose ahove a third, though 

* " The extreme diminutiveness of Greece," remarks Mr. Hobhouse, " may 
make some readers suspect, that they and the rest of the world have fixed their 
admiration upon a series of petty and insignificant actions, scarcely worthy 
of a detail, or of finding a place among the histories of empires ; but others 
will feel only an increase of esteem and respect for a people whose transcend- 
ent genius and virtue could give an interest and importance to events trans- 
acted upon so inconsiderable a spot of earth. Greece Proper scarcely con- 
tained more space than the kingdom of Naples formerly occupied on the 
continent of Italy; and Sicily is considered as large as Peloponnesus .... A 
man might very easily, at a moderate pace, ride from Livadia to Thebes and 
back again between breakfast and dinner, particularly as he would not have a 
single object to detain him by the way ; and the tour of all Boeotia might cer- 
tainly be made in two days without baggage." — Journey through Albania, pp. 
483, 275. The diminutiveness of Palestine has awakened similar feelings ; but 
the ancient kingdom of Judaea was far more populous than Greece. 

t " Hume has shewn, by very powerful arguments, the little faith that is to 
be attached to the extravagant accounts of the Greek population, to be found 
in AthenBBus and other ancient authors. 1 am inclined to believe that ancient 
Greece was never a very populous tract. The vast ranges of barren mountains 
that intersect the whole country, together with the immense woods and marshes, 
still more considerable formerly than at present, must ever have been great 
obstacles to populousness ; and we may perceive, in the importance attached 
thi'oughout ancient Greece to the character of a citizen, (insomuch that the 
capital was often contemplated as the whole state,) a further proof that the 
population of the villages was comparatively insignificant. In Attica, where 
the number of Svi^oi is known, and where the people were noted for their attach- 
ment to a country life, there are now as many villages as in the time of its 
liberty. And as the people have no longer the same objects in flocking to the 
capital, the diminution of inhabitants in the cities cannot be taken as a criterion 
of a general decrease. . . . The plains of Messenia and Thessaly might be quoted 
as instances of population hardly equalled in any part of the world. In one 
view over the Larissce campus opimce, I have counted eight and thirty villages." 
Douglas on the Modern Greeks, p. 44. 



24 • MODERN GREECE. 

the proportion is very different in different provinces."* M. Beau- 
jour states the total population of Greece at 1,920,000 ; but he 
includes Macedonia, to which is assigned 700,000. The re- 
mainder is thus distributed : 

Inhabitants. 

Epirus 400,000 

Thessaly 300,000 

iEtolia, Phocis, and Bceotia 200,000 

Attica 20,000 

Morea . 300,000 



1,220,000 

But it is not a little remarkable, that the population of the islands 
should be whollj overlooked in this computation. f Col. Leake 
thinks, that, in the latter years of the reign of Ali Pasha, the 
population of Continental Greece, from Cape Tsenarum to the 
northernmost limits at which the Greek language is in common 
use, was not much above a million. Mr. Waddington, one of 
our most recent authoriUes, professes himself to be strongly of 
opinion, that the whole number of " actual insurgents" is some- 
what under one million, including the population of the islands, 
which he estimates at 250,000 souls. To Eastern and Western 
Hellas, he assigns 150,000,f and to the Morea, half a million. 

*In some parts of the Morea, (Messenia and Elis in particular,) as well as in 
all the large villages, the Turks outnumbered the Christians. In Attica and 
Boeotia, the Christians were supposed to be ten in eleven. In Thessaly and 
Epirus, the preponderance was very slightly in favor of the Moslems. The 
islands were generally free from the presence of a Turk ; and even in Scio and 
Mytilene, they were few in comparison with the Greeks. Under the rapacious 
administration of Veli Pasha, the Morea was to a great extent exhausted of its 
Greek population by emigrations to Hydra and the opposite coasts of Asia 
Minor, and even to Albania. These fluctuations, occasioned by internal politi- 
cal changes, increase the difficulty of ascertaining the true state of the popula- 
tion. 

t Mr. Hobhouse says, that the number of Greek mariners, actually employed 
at sea, is supposed to be at least 50,000. — Journey, ^c. p. 600. 

j; Since the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, the province of 
Western Greece, according to Mr. Waddington's representation, has been for 
the most part confined to the walls of Missolonghi. " I am assured," he says, 
" that during the second siege, nearly 40,000 souls were collected in the city, 
and that this number comprehended the great majority of the villages and 
movmtaineers, who had fled to the only place of security. We may then cal- 
culate the Avhole population of the province at 60,000. I am the more inclined 
to attach credit to this estimate, because my own inquiries in Attica, respecting 
the physical force of Eastern Greece, led me very nearly to tlie same result. 
Many fugitives from both these districts, are to be found, as soldiers or shep- 
herds, in the cities or on the mountains of the Morea." — Visit to Greece, p. 172. 
This last remark may account for the alleged increase in the population of the 



MODERN GREECK. 25 

In this estimate, Epirus and Thessaly are apparently put out 
of consideration, and only die " insurgent" Greeks are reckoned.^ 
Crete alone was formerly supposed to contain a population of 
280,000 souls, of whom 130,000 were Greeks.* If the total 
number of Greeks were the subject of inquiry, it would be 
necessary to ijiclude those of the more northern provinces of 
European Turkey, of Tinace and Wallachia, as well as those 
who have taken refuge under the empire of Russia, together 
widi die Greeks of Cyprus, Asia Minor, and S}^ria. But the 
population of the country, whether Greek, Turkish or Albanian, 
is the proper question ; and the following, as a mean estimate, 
may perhaps be considered as an approximation to the fact : 

Inhabitants 

Eastern Hellas 80,000 

Western Hellas 70,000 

Morea 450,000 

Crete and the Islands 350,000 

950,000 

Epirus 400,000 

Thessaly 300,000 

Macedonia 700,000 f 



2,350,000 



Of these, taking one province with another, it may be pre- 
sumed, that about one third are Greeks ; the other two-thirds 
being Albanians and Turks, with the exception of some few 
thousands of Franks and Jews. 

The above general divisions of the country are those which 
have been adopted by the provisional government of Greece. 
Under the Turks, the whole of Greece was latterly divided into 
four great pashaliks, deriving their names from the seats of go- 
vernment. The pashalik of Tripolitza comprised the whole of 

Morea, stated by Dr. Clarke at 300,000, and by this Traveller at half a million. 
M. Pouqueville states the population of the Morea, exclusive of the Maiaotes, 
at 419,000 ; viz. 400,000 Greeks, 15,000 Turks, and 4000 Jews. 

* The Moslems in Crete, now become " an Egyptian province," are stated 
by Mr. Sheridan to be as 6 to 4, 150 to 120,000, and " the most daring and 
ferocious in Turkey." 

t This allows, in Macedonia, 370 persons for every square league ; about 
half the proportion which the population bears to the territorial surface in 
Spain, and not a third of that of Switzerland. In the pashalik of Saionica, 
however, which comprises all Lower Macedonia, and in the mousselinilik of 
Larissa, the proportion is 500 to every square league. Upper Macedonia is 
almost a desert. — See Beaujour, torn. i. p. 12S. 



26 



MODERN GREECE. 



tlie Morea; that of Egripo (Negropont), included that island, 
with Boeotia and the eastern part of Phocis ', that of Salonica 
extended over the southern division of Macedonia ; while Thes- 
saly, Epirus, and part of Livadia, were included in that of loan- 
nina. Athens and Livadia had each its independent waiwode^ 
and Larissa was governed by a mousselim. It wiU, perhaps, be 
acceptable to the reader, to have the corresponding ancient and 
modern subdivisions more distinctly laid before him. We shall 
take them proceeding from south to north. 



Ancient Divisions. 

Achaia N. 
Argolis, N.E. 
Arcadia Cent. 

Laconia, S.E. < 

Messenia, S.W. 

Elis, N.W. 



Attica. 
Bceotia. 
EubcEa. 
Loci is 

(Opuntii.) 
Phocis. 
Doris. 
Locris 
[Ozolce). 



The Morea, or Peloponnesus. 

Venetian. Turkish, Chief Places. 



Chiarenza. 
Sacania. 

Zaccuniaor ^ 
Maina. 



CEtolia. 
Acarnania.* 



Thesprotia. 

Molossia. 

Chaonia. 

Thessaly. 

Macedonia. 



> Belvedere 



Pashalik 

of 

Tripolitza. 



' Corinth. Patras. 
Napoli di Romania 
Tripolitza. Arcadia, 
<( Mistra. 
Navarino. Modon. 

Kalamata. 
Pyrgos. 



Eastern HeUas. 



Modern. 



J> Livadia. 



1 

Pashalik 

of 
Egripo. 

) Pashalik of 
} loannina. 



' Athens. Marathon. 
Livadia. Thebes. 
Egripo. 
Thermopylae. Talanta, 



< 



Delphi. 
Gavria. 
Salona. 



Suri. 



L 



Western Hellas. 



Karl-ili. 



I ^Thalik ^f^'/Messolonghi.Lepanto. 



shalik of 
loannina 



1 



Vonitza. Actium. 



Epirus. — Albania . f 



Tzamouria. \ 
loannina. > loannina. 
Liapuria. j 
Sanjiak of Triccala. 
Pashalik of Salonica. 



{Arta. Parga. 
loannina. Dodona. 
Chimara. Ericho. 
Triccala. Larissa 
Salonica. 



* Acarnania belongs to Epirus, in ancient geography, but is included in 
Western HeUas. 

t Albania comprises part of Macedonia, Illyria, Chaonia, and Epirus. Del- 
vinachi is the frontier village of Epirus and Albania Proper. 



MODERN GREECE. 27 



MODERN TRAVELLERS IN GREECE. 

Having taken this general view of the physical and political 
geography of these regions, we ought now to proceed to give 
the result of modern observation respecting the characteristic 
featiu-es of the population ; but an account of their manners and 
local customs will naturally connect itself with the topographical 
details ; and with regard to the moral and intellectual character 
of the Greeks, the testimonies of modern travellers are so much 
at variance, owing to the influence of political sentiment or per- 
sonal bias, that it is difficult to form a just and impartial estimate. 
In fact, the most delicate and embarrassing part of our task, is to 
decide upon the degree of authenticity and correctness attaching 
to the conflicting reports of the host of modern travellers who 
have furnished us with accounts relating to Greece and its inhabi- 
tants. 

The quaint narratives of Sir George Wheler and Dr. Spon, 
who travelled through Greece in 1675-6, are referred to by Mr. 
Douglas as containing perhaps the best information we possess 
in our own language. The merit, however, of having first 
drawn the attention of English travellers to the ruins of Athens, 
is assigned by Dr. E. D. Clarke to De la Guilletiere, who visited 
Attica seven years before, and from whose work he accuses 
Wheler of borrowing without acknowledgment. Chandler's 
Travels are liighly valuable as well as entertaining ; yet, remarks 
Mr. Douglas, " after the description of Athens, in the second 
volume, much of which is borrowed from Stuart, he tells us little 
or nothing. Ill health and other causes compelled him to pass 
through the Morea in so much haste, as to be able to make but 
scanty observations, and the few he has given us are not always ac- 
curate, and are still seldomer interesting." Pocoke visited some 
parts of Thessaly and Eastern Hellas, but his narrative, in this 
part, is unusually vague and meagre. Lord Byron, complaining 
of the deplorable deficiency of information on the subject of the 
Greeks, remarks, that Eton and Sonnini have led the public 
astray by their panegyrics and projects, while De Pauw and 
Thornton have debased the Greeks beyond their demerits. " It 
would be worth while," he adds, "to publish together and compare 
the works of Messrs. Thornton and De Pauw, Eton and Sonnini ; 
paradox on one side, and prejudice on the other." With regard 
to Eton, Mr. Douglas remarks, that " it is vain to expect a cor- 
rect estimate of the Greeks from an author whose every sentence 
■^^hews his original intention to have been, the eulogy of the Rus- 



28 MODERN GREECfT. 

sians and the satire of their enemies.* Neither is the peri 
which has undertaken his refutation, however excellent upon 
other topics, less prejudiced in respect to the Greeks. Thorn- 
ton, as has been observed by the author of Childe Harold, could 
scarcely form a correct judgment of that nation from a constant 
residence at Pera ; and what little he has recorded, bears often 
the appearance of a wish to convict his antagonist, rather than 
of an impartial inquiry after truth," 

" The French," continues this accomplished critic, " abound 
in writers upon Greece. Of these, the more modern, particu- 
larly Sonnini and Savary, have fallen into two great faults inci- 
dental to the degeneracy which seems to have taken place in 
the taste of most of their countrymen. A tedious superabund- 
ance of sentiment, lavished upon every thing that comes in their 
way, not to mention its intrinsic dulness, diminishes our confi- 
dence in the facts which they relate. We are still more disgust- 
ed, however, by their affected contempt for all established opin- 
ions and sound learning. Chateaubriand is only obnoxious to 
the first of these charges, and he amply redeems all the errors 
of his slight sketch of Greece, by his eloquent delineation of 
Palestine. Dr. Pouqueville, the French resident at loannina, 
has collected much curious information respecting the Morea. 
His account of the Albanians, though debased by the bigotry of 
a partisan, gave us our first knowledge of a people whom the 
genius of Ali Pasha has raised to a level with the greatest na- 
tions of the continent, f But the most useful, the most amusing 
and the most accurate traveller that ever visited those regions is 
Tournefort. It is to be regretted, that his tour w^as confined 
to so small a portion of the Levant." 

Since the publication of these remarks upon preceding \vriters, 
the list has been greatly extended, and we can no longer com- 
plain of a dearth of information. In the years 1794 and 5, sev- 
eral parts of Greece were visited by Mr. Morritt, Mr. Hawkins, and 
Professor Sibthorp, valuable extracts from whose manuscript jour- 
nals are given in the Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic 

* " The emperor Paul," says Mr. Eton, " is a prince of the most scrupulous 
honour and the greatest integrity." — Pref. p. xix. 

t " Pouqueville is always out," is the pithy remark of Lord Byron, in re- 
ference to his mistaking the lake of loannina for Acherusia. " It is a curious 
circumstance," adds his Lordship, " that Mr. Thornton, who so lavishly dis- 
praises Pouqueville on every occasion of mentioning the Turks, has yet re- 
course to him as authority on the Greeks, and terms him an impartial observer. 
Now Dr. Pouqueville is as little entitled to that appellation, as Mr. Thornton 
is to confer it on him." 



MODERN GREECE. 29 

Turkey, edited by tlic Rev. Mr. Walpole.* Li 1 801 and 2, Colo- 
nel Lealie, Lieut. Colonel Squire, Dr. E. D. Clarke, Mr. Dod- 
well, and several other accomplished travellers, explored these 
classical regions. Sir Wm. Gell, and the Hon. Mr. Craven 
travelled in 1804 ; Mr. Hobhouse and Lord Byron, in 1809-10 ; 
the Hon. Mr. Douglas, in 1811; Dr. Holland, in 1812-13; 
and the Rev. T. S. Hughes in the following year. To the re- 
searches of these gentlemen,^ most of whom have published an 
account of their tours, we shall be chiefly indebted for our des- 
criptive and topographical details. There now occurs a consid- 
erable interval, during which the attention of English pliilhellenists 
seems to have been diverted from the classic attractions of Greece 
by the interest of passing events nearer home. In 1821, the 
revolutionary struggle commenced ; and now, within the past 
two or tlii'ee years, tlie press has teemed v^dth memoirs and 
journ'^ls relating to this unliappy country. Mr. Waddington's 
Visit to Greece in 1823-4, is characterised by its apparent fair- 
ness and impartiality. Mr. Bulwer passed his " Autumn in 
Greece" in 1 824, and Colonel Stanhope visited the country, as 
agent of the Greek Committee, in the same year. A Picture of 
Greece in 1825 has been furnished by the journals of Messrs. 
Emerson and Humphreys and Count Pecchio ; and the Journal 
of the Rev. Charles Swan comes down as late as September 
last. Some of these publications betray rather too evidently the 
warmth of the partisan, while others have been written under 
an opposite bias, the result of disappointment or personal disgust, f 

* 4to. London. 1817. Travels in Continuation of Memoirs. 4to. London. 
1820. 

t " It is remarkable," observes Mr. Leake, " that travellers who visit 
Greece, generally return with an unfavourable opinion of the people. But it is 
not difficult to account for this. From a real or supposed want of time, or in 
consequence of the disgust and impatience usually produced by the privations 
and inconveniences of a semi-barbarous state of society, travellers are gen- 
erally contented to follow the beaten route of Athens, the Islands, the Asiatic 
coast, Troy, and Constantinople : their journey is concluded before they have 
acquired a sufficient knowledge of the language to form any impartial estimate 
of the national character } and they come chiefly in contact with those classes upon 
which the long subjection of the nation to the Turks has had the greatest effect, 
such as persons in authority under the government, or otherwise under Turkish 
employ, servants, interpreters, the lower orders of traders, and generally, the 
inhabitants of those towns and districts in which the Turkish population has a 
great preponderance of numbers." — " Among the various foreigners resi- 
dent in Athens," remarks Lord Byron, " French, Italians, Germans, Rag- 
usans, there was never a difference of opinion in their estimate of the 
Greek character, though on all other topics they disputed with great acri- 
mony. M. Roque, a French merchant of respectability, long settled in Ath- 
ens, asserted, with the most amusing gravity : ' Sir, they are the same canaille 
that existed in the days of Themistocles !' — an alarming remark to the lauda- 
tor temporis acti. In short, all the Franks who are fixtures, and most of the 



30 MODERN GREECE. 

It will be G«r business, so far as possible, to elicit a consistent 
statement from their conflicting representations. 

In addition to the above mentioned works, the unfinished rev- 
olution has already found its historians. Mr. Blaquiere has giv- 
en, in a modest volume, a sketch of its origin and progress to the 
close of the third campaign. M. PouqueviUe has put forth a 
history of Greece from the year 1740 to 1824, in four volumes 
octavo ; and M. RafFenel, in three successive volumes, brings 
down the history of events in Greece to the close of the campaign 
in 1825. Our limits would not admit of our entering very fully 
into the florid recitals of these rival French writers, even could we 
place an implicit reliance upon their fidelity ; but as our readers 
will expect some account of the revolution, we shall endeavour 
to put them in possession of the leading facts, availing ourselves 
occasionally of all these works, as well as of the intelligent ob- 
servations of ]Mr. Leake, in his " Historical Outline," recently 
published. 

HISTORY OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

To whatever circumstances, we may ascribe the first insur- 
rectionary movements in Greece, the determined and heroic spirit 
in which the struggle has been maintained, leaves no room to 
doubt that causes had long been in operation, to which the new 
position and character assumed by the Greeks must ultimately be 
traced. For more than nineteen centuries they had ceased to 
exist as a free people ; or, if we consider them as Graeco-Ro- 
mans, Romaiks (to apply to them the name of their language), 
and date their political bondage from the time when it was sealed 
by the treaty between the Turks and Venetians in 1454, which 
secured to the latter the commerce, and to the former the terri- 
tory of Greece, — still, three centuries and a half of patient vas- 
salage might seem sufficient to have extinguished every hope and 
every feeling allied to political independence. Indeed, up to 
the beginning of the eighteenth century, the country had not 
ceased to be the seat of contest between the Venetians and the 
Ottomans ; and all that the Greeks could hope for, was a change 
of masters, between whom there was not much to choose, the 
Latins being, even on religious grounds, the objects of nearly as 
great antipathy as the Moslems. When, however, in 1685, 

Englishmen, Germans, Danes, &c. of passage, come over by degrees to (he 
same opinion, on much the same grounds that a Turk in England would con- 
demn the nation by wholesale becaus« he was wronged by his lacquey, or 
overcharged by his washerwoman." 



MODERN GREECE. 31 

Francis Morosini, tlie general of the Republic, invaded the Mo- 
rea at the head of an army of German mercenaries, the inhabi- 
tants of Maina declared for the Republic, and contributed to 
die defeat of a body of troops commanded by the captain-pasha 
in person, which made the Venetians masters of that province. 
Napoli di Romania, then the capital of the peninsula, fell in 
1686, and Athens v^as taken by them in the foUovi^ing year. By 
the peace of Carlowitz in 1699, the Porte ceded to the Repub- 
lic all its conquests in the Morea, as far as the isthmus, together 
with the isle of Egina on one side, and that of Santa Maura on 
the other, wliile the fortifications of Lepanto, Romelia, and Pre- 
vesa, were to be demolished. This peace, however, was not 
of long continuance ; and the reconquest of the Morea by the 
Turks in 1714, almost without resistance, reflected equal dis- 
grace on the pusillanimity of the degenerate Italians, and the 
barbarity of the ruthless Ottomans.* Crete was lost in the fol- 
lowing year ; and the treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, in which 
the Republic was included, without being consulted in the nego- 
ciations, finally deprived that once haughty and powerful state of 
all its vast dominions in the East, with the exception of the Ion- 
ian Isles, and the territories of Cattaro, Butrinto, Parga, Prevesa, 
and Vonitza, on the continent. 

Li the mean time, a new maritime power was growing up in 
the north of Europe ; and the founder of St. Petersburgh was 
forming that infant navy which was destined to prove a more 
formidable enemy to the Ottoman than all the fleets of the Adri- 
atic. To Peter the Great is ascribed the first conception of the 
project more earnestly taken up and pursued by his successors, 
the restoration of the eastern empire in the person of a Russian 
prince, and the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. f In the 

* Corinth capitulated after five days' siege, notwithstanding which, the 
greater part of the garrison were put to the sword, and the remainder were 
sent prisoners on board the galleys of the captain-pasha, to be beheaded be- 
fore the port of Napoli, in sight of the Venetian troops on the ramparts. That 
place was taken by storm shortly after, and a general massacre of the inhab- 
itants struck with panic terror the garrisons of the towns that yet held out. 
Malvosie was given up by the Venetian commander, Badouer, without a blow. 
" We can no longer recognise," remarks Daru, " in this series of disasters, 
either the brave defenders of Candia, or that audacious navy which had so re- 
peatedly destroyed the Ottoman fleets. Officers and soldiers, all were equally 
struck with terror ; and the government shewed itself to be as devoid of ac- 
tivity and energy as of foresight. Candia had been defended during five and 
twenty years : the Morea was lost in a few months. And it was within less 
than half a century, that a government — a nation had thus degenerated." — 
Hist de la Republique de Venise, liv. xxxiv. sec. 13. 

t " Au nom de Pierre le Grand," says M. Pouqueville, in his flowery style, 
" le Hellade aper^ilt d'autres cieux et un nouvel horizon ! Les insulaires de 
I'Archipel oserent, nouveaux Argonautes, porter leurs regards vers la mer de 



32 MODEBN GREECH. 

year 1769, the first war broke out between the Russians and the 
Turks, which in its issue, proved so calamitous to the Greeks, 
its only victims. To the astonishment of Europe, instead of at- 
tacking Turkey from its southern frontier, the Empress despatch- 
ed an armament from the Baltic, consisting of twenty sail of the 
line, besides smaller vessels and transports, which had to cir- 
cumnavigate Europe, and actually wintered at Leghorn, before it 
was brought into action. Intrigue had been actively employed 
by Russian agents in the interim,* in order to secure the co-op- 
eration of the Greeks. The delay of the expedition is ascribed 
to the indecision or indolence of OrlofF, to whom Catherine had 
capriciously entrusted the command. The whole winter passed 
away ere it was determined in what part of Turkey to strike the 
first blow. The Greeks themselves decided the question. The 
result we give in the words of the Author of Anastasius, who 
has mingled so much real history with his romance, that it may 
vie in authenticity with the romances of the historian. 

Colchos : ils decouvraient le labarum dans un lointain mysterieux, quand le 
nouveau Constantin qu'ils attendaient, Pierre I., accable par les Turcs sur les 
bords du Pruth, ti'op heureux d'obtenir sa liberte d'un visir, au prix de quel- 
ques-unes de ses conquetes, les laissa sans avenir."-— Tom. i. p. 4. That the 
" children of Pindus and Parnassus," as the Doctor calls them, sympathised 
with the Czar in this defeat, is, we suspect, an embellishment. 

* In the reign of the Empress Anne, Russian emissaries had been sent into 
Gieece by Marshal Munich, to sound the disposition of the natives, or, as, M. 
Fouqueville phrases it, qui parlaieni aux Chretiens de patrie, de religion, et de 
liberty. This was the secret prelude to the war already contemplated. A 
partial insurrection was the consequence ; but the Greeks were abandoned to 
their fate at the peace of 1739. Among the emissaries employed by Munich, 
the Russian prime minister, was a Greek priest, who endeavoured to excite the 
popular enthusiasm by recalling to mind a traditional prediction, that the Ot- 
toman empire should be overthrown " by a fair nation named Ros, proceed- 
ing from the north, and united to them by the ties of religion." On the ac- 
cession of Catherine II., a new agent was employed to sow the seeds of insur- 
rection in Greece^ — Gregory Papadopoulo, a native of Larissa, an artillery 
officer in the imperial guard of Russia, and a creature of Orloff's. In 1767, 
the false Peter III., at the head of his Montenegrins, declared war against the 
infidels', but was soon compelled to take refuge in the mountains. M. Pou- 
quevUle represents the court of St. Petersburgh as acting on this occasion a 
very insidious part. " While it was sending arms, ammunition, and money to 
the Greeks, it requested the sultan to crush its rebellious subjects, and to deliv- 
er up Stephano Piccolo," — the name of the adventurer. " In the meantime," 
continues M. Pouqueville, " Alexis and Theodore Orlofi", who were residing 
at Venice, were using every effort to engage Greece in the interest of Russia. 
Assisted by the banker Meruzzi, a native of Yanina, they repeatedly for- 
warded to Suli, to Acroceraunia, and to the Morea, military stores, arms, and 
money, which were distributed from hand to hand by secret agents, till they 
reached the Jlrmatolis of Pindus and Parnassus." A worthy coadjutor of the 
ambulatory diplomatist, Papadopoulo, presented himself in an enthusiast 
named Tamara, who is said to have gone about throughout Hellas and the 
Morea, endeavouring to persuade the deluded natives that the august Cather- 
ine was about to restore them to political freedom. The correspondence be- 
tween Voltaire and the King of Prussia, proves that that ambitious princess 
had no such liberal intention. — See Pouq,ueville, torn. i. pp. 5, 22, 40. 



MODERN GREECE. S^ 

" A few turbulent codgea-bashees (heads of districts) of the 
Morea, fearing tlie lash of their Turkish governor, sent to the 
Russian commanders a forged plan of insurrection as one already 
organised ; and, on the return of the deputation, employed the 
promise of Russian assistance thus fraudulently obtained, to pro- 
duce the commotion which they had already described as on the 
point of breaking out. Their labour was assisted by the Turks 
themselves. Suspecting a plot against their tyranny, these pusil- 
lanimous oppressors acted like men who, from the very fear of 
a precipice, plunge headlong down it. In their panic, they mas- 
sacred a whole troop of Zacuniote peasants, peaceably return- 
ing from a fair at Petras, whom they mistook for an army of 
rebels marching to attack them. The cry of revenge now re- 
sounded from all quarters ; and when, therefore, in the spring of 
1770, the Russian fleet cast anchor in the bay of Vitulo, its 
commanders were eagerly received by the bishops of Lacedsemon 
and Cliristianopolis, followed by Greeks of all descriptions, who 
only begged as a favour, permission to enlist under the Russian 
banners. Fair as seemed this beginning, the understanding be- 
tween the two nations was short-lived. The Greeks expected 
the Russians alone to accomplish the whole task of their deliver- 
ance. The Russians had laid their account with a powerful co- 
operation on the part of the Greeks. Each, alike disappointed, 
threw on the other the whole blame of every failure. Their 
squabbles gave large troops of Arnaoots time to pour from every 
neighbouring point of Roumili into the peninsula ; and the Rus- 
sian commanders, seeing all chance of success vanish in that un- 
promising quarter, sailed liigher up the Archipelago, leaving the 
Moreotes to their fate, and carrying away no other fruits of the 
momentary contact of Greeks and Russians, than an increase of 
rancour between the two nations, — too nearly allied in faith, not 
to feel towards each other the most cordial aversion.* 

* M. Pouqueville gives the words of the altercation that took place between 
Alexis Orloff and Mavro-Michaiis, the bey of Maina. His narrative agrees 
substantially with Mr. Hope's spirited recital, and he states, that he derived his 
information from M. Benaki, the Russian consul-general at Corfu. A number 
of Greeks who had taken refuge in the island of Sphacteria, were perfidiously 
abandoned by Dolgorouki, the Russian commander, and massacred by the 
Turks. M. de Vaudoncourt represents the Empress to have been deceived by 
her own agents, who, in order to flatter and gain favour, gave assurances 
that nothing more was necessary than for a squadron to appear on the shores 
of Greece, when the whole Greek population would receive their liberators 
with open arms. " All the memoirs presented to the Russian government 
contained the same exaggerations ; nor is it indeed astonishing that the Gov- 
ernment should have blindly believed what was announced by men expressly 
sent out for the purpose of examining the state of things on the spot. It was 
not that the enthusiasm of the Greeks failed at that time to be carried to the 
5 



34 - MODERN GREECE. 

"The ferocious mountaineers of Albania, who, under the 
name of Arnaoots, form a chief part of the forces of the Otto- 
man empire, and of the body-guard of its various pashas, present 
in their rugged yet colourless countenances, the greatest con- 
trast to the regular features and rich complexions of the Greeks. 
In the faith of the two nations, the difference is less marked : the 
worship of the Arnaoots is generally determined by the master 
whom they serve ; and many of those who, on the spur of pay 
or plunder, came to assist the Moreote Mussulmans against the 
Christians, themselves professed the Christian faith. Their total 
number was computed at about 20,000. When their work was 
achieved, they demanded their wages. The money was want- 
ing, or at least the pay was witlrheld. This furnished them with 
a plausible pretence for disbanding on the spot, and paying them- 
selves by pillaging the country. Some, after laying waste the 
villages, drove the inhabitants before them like herds of cattle 
through the derwens or defiles that guard the entrance of the 
peninsula, and thus regained, with their new slaves, their native 
mountains. Others remained stationary in the Morea : by in- 
stalling themselves in the houses and lands of the Greek peasantry, 
they dep]:ived the soil of its husbandmen and the Turks of their 
subjects ; and at last, finding no more rayahs* to oppress, turn- 
ed their violence against the Moslems themselves, and treated 
like the vanquished, those whom they had come to defend. 
Nine succeeding years had seen eleven different governors 
arrive, one after the other, with peremptory instructions to exter- 
minate the banditti, and again depart without succeeding ; some 
for want of sufficient force to repress their outrages ; others, it 
is said, for want of sufficient resolution to resist their bribes. At 
length, in 1799, the famous Hassan Capitan-pasha received the 
sultan's orders to expel from the Morea the refractory Ar- , 
naoots."f 

M. Pouqueville shall tell the sequel. " The principal corps 
o^ schypetars, reckoned at 10,000 men, were entrenched under 
the walls of Tripolitza. Hassan, not having been able to sue- 
highest pitch, or that they would have been unable to expel the Turks, if they 
had been furnished with the proper means ; but the Russiaos brought witli 
them neither arms nor warlike stores. As soon as they had effected their land- 
ing, instead of scattering money in the country, and thus giving some earnest 
of the promises they had lavished, their officers thought of nothing else but 
pillaging those they were come to defend. 

* The name given to subjects of the Porte, not Mohammedans, who pay 
the capitation-tax, such as Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and Gipsies. 

t Anastasius, vol. i. pp. 26 — 29. The Hassan Pasha alluded to is the same 
that effected the destruction of the Sheikh Dahher. See Mod. Trav., Syria, 
vol. i. p. 23, and plate. 



MODERN GREECE. 35 

ceed in making them accept a paternal capitulation, resolved to 
subdue them by lorce of arms. He had been encamped during 
a month at Argos, when, on the 10th of June, 1799, he set out 
immediately after the mid-day prayer, and having marched dur- 
ing part of the night, appeared at day-break before Tripolitza. 
He immediately attacked the rebels, and routed them ; and be- 
fore the end of the day, he had erected before the eastern gate 
of the town, a pyramid of more than 4000 heads, of which 1 saw 
the remains in 1799. Those of the ^cAj/peiars who escaped, 
were relendessly pursued, and being tracked through the wind- 
ings of the CEnian mountains, were exterminated at the bottom 
of a woody gulley, which has shice been known under the name 
of the Defile of the Massacre.'^*" 

When the treaty of Kainardji, signed in July, 1774, put an 
end, for the time, to hostilities between the Empress and the 
Porte, an article was introduced, guaranteeing protection and 
immunity to such Greeks as had taken part in favour of the 
Russians during the war. No sooner, however, had the islands 
taken by the Russians been restored, than, with the most profli- 
gate disregard of diis solemn stipulation, the Turkish govern- 
ment, while it let loose the Albanians on the JVIorea, committed to 
the capitan-pasha the punishment of the islanders. It has been 
affirmed, we know not on what distinct evidence, that a hundred 
thousand Greeks, of both sexes, either perished by the sword, 
or were carried into slavery, the victims of Turkish vengeance. f 

Li the year 1787, a war again broke out between Turkey and 
the allied powers of Russia and Austria, and again the Empress 
issued her manifestoes to the Greeks, calling upon them to co- 
operate A^idi her in expelling the enemies of Christianity from 
their natal soil. On tliis occasion, however, the north of 
Greece was the scene of insurrection. A Greek of the name 
of Sottiri was sent into Epirus and Albania to organize a revolt, 
and Suli was the head-quarters. The pasha of loannina was 
defeated by the insurgents ; liis son was killed in the encounter, 
and the rich aimour of wliich he was despoiled, was transmitted 

* Histoire de la Regen. i/-c., torn. i. ch. 2. 

t Mr. Eton states, that a deliberate proposal was made in the divan, to ex- 
terminate all the GreFks of the Morea in cold blood. " Nor was this," he 
says, " the first time that the massacre of the whole Greek nation had been 
seriously debated ; it was, however, in the present instance, successfully 
opposed by Gazi Hassan. The chief argument which he used, and which 
alone carried conviction to his hearers, was : If we kill all the Greeks, we shall 
lose all the capitation-tax they pay. Even without such a provocation, Sultan 
Mustafa, predecessor and brother of Abdulhamid, on his accession, proposed 
to cut off all the Christians in his empire, and was with difficulty dissuaded 
from it." — Eto:*. p. 356. 



36 MODEKN GREECE. 

by the hands of three deputies to her imperial majesty, accom- 
panied with a memorial, imploring her succour, and denouncing 
as a traitor the Captain Psaro to whom the Russian government 
had intrusted the distribution of the subsidy and ammunition in- 
tended for the Greeks.* Mr, Eton states, that the Venetians, 
still unwilling to offend the Porte, had thrown obstacles in the 
way, obstructing the communication with the Russians by means ol 
the port of Prevesa. On the other hand, the Venetians were sus- 
pected by the Porte of having an understanding with the Musco- 
vites, as it was in the Ionian Isles that Papadopoulo had matured 
the plan for the first rising in the Morea. More than a hundred 
thousand Christians are said to have taken refuge from the scimi- 
tars of the Moslems in those islands and in the territory of Naples, 
while vast numbers of fugitive Romeliots had found an asylum 
among the armatolis of the mountains of Agrafa. Sicily had been 
fixed upon as tlie station where the above-mentioned Captain Psaro 
was to establish magazines for the Russian armament that was to 
co-operate with the Greeks. But whether he was really a com- 
missioned agent of Russia or an artful adventurer, seems very 
questionable. The Empress, it is pretty evident, whatever 
might be her ulterior views, had, at this time no serious intention 
of undertaking the deliverance of the Greeks. The three dep- 
uties, after doing homage to the Grand-duke Constantine, as the 
future king of the Hellenes, were sent to Prince Potemkin, then 
with the army in Moldavia, whence they proceeded to Greece by 
way of Vienna, accompanied by Major-general Tamara. They 
were to prepare every thing, but to undertake nothing till they 
should receive directions from the court of St. Petersburgh. 
Things remained in this state till the campaign in Moldavia had 
ended, and Prince Potemkin had returned to the capital. 
Early in the following year, before Potemkin had rejoined the 
army, the preliminaries of peace between Russia and the Porte 
were already signed. Lambro Canziani, a brave Greek, who 
had fitted out a small armament at Trieste, by means of private 
subscriptions, and who, after his little fleet had been destroyed, 
had again sailed in a single ship to attack the Turks, was de- 
clared a pirate ; being disavowed by Russia, he was suffered to 
be imprisoned for debts contracted in fitting out his vessel, and 
was released only by the contributions of his countrymen.f 

* Eton, p. 364. If the engagement between the Suliots and Ali Pasha be 
referred to, the account is very incorrect : he lost no son on the occasion. 

t The statements in the above paragraph are taken chiefly from Eton, the 
panegyrist of the Russian court ; they may therefore be presumed to be sub- 
stantially authentic. He gives at length the memorial of the Greek deputies. 



MODERN GREECE. 37 

The Empress Catlierine died in 1796, and with her expired 
for the time the hopes of those who looked to see another Con- 
stantine on the throne of Constantinople. In the mean time, 
anotlier personage had risen into commanding influence and im- 
portance in the mountains of Epirus, who at one period bade 
much fairer to become the king of Greece, than any one who 
had appeared on the theatre of Europe since the extinction of 
tlie eastern empire. This was no other than the celebrated Ali 
Tepeleni, pasha of loannina. Before we proceed, however, to 
give a sketch of tliis extraordinary man's romantic and revolting 
liistory, with which the cause of the Greeks has been closely 
implicated, we must advert to other political changes, which, 
towards the close of the last century, produced a very material 
alteration in the character, condition, and resources of the 
Greeks. 

Whatever regret we might have felt at the occupation of 
classic Greece by the barbarous Ottomans, or whatever an am- 
bitious policy might have dictated to any of the powers of Chris- 
tian Europe, had no internal changes taken place anaong the 
Greeks themselves, they must still have continued to be the pas- 
sive, crouching slaves or helpless victims of their Frank or 
Mussulman masters. Their country had been made the scene 
of repeated conflicts between the soldiers of the cross and of the 
crescent ; but, except at the instigation of foreign emissaries 
and under a foreign standard, the natives had made no attempt 
to shake off the Turkish yoke. In Greece, at all events, the 
crusades had no beneficial influence, but were fatal alike to 
learning and to liberty. But the same causes which gave the 
first impulse to European civilization in the tenth century, and 
to which the revival of letters and the first movements of free- 
dom are ultimately to be ascribed, were now gradually prepar- 
ing the Greeks, after a political extinction of nineteen centuries, 
again to assume the form and rank of a nation.* Towards the 

Pano Kiri, Christo Lazzotti, and Nicolo Pangalo. From the style, the 
Frenchj.rather than the Greek, would seem to have been the original of the 
document. That they were authorised to implore, as the wish of their na- 
tion, that the Empress would deign to give them her grandson Constantine as 
a sovereign. Catherine was too shrewd to believe, though Mr. Eton seems to 
give them credit for it. Their plan of operation was magnificent ; but one is 
astonished to find any thing so absurdly visionary gravely reported. Wheth- 
er they were knaves or enthusiasts, is not clear. The memorial was proba- 
bly of foreign manufacture. The only humane part of the Empress's conduct 
was, the paying their expenses to Moldavia, and enjoining them not to act till 
they heard from her. 

* " Warton appears to have unconsciously approximated the true solution 
of the question, when he fixes on commerce as the real source of that influx, 
not of poetry and romance indeed, but of liberal ideas, productive industry, 



S8 MODERN GREECE. 

latter end of the eighteenth century, Marseilles almost monopo- 
lised the commerce of the Levant. France was the only pow- 
er in favour with the Divan ; her consuls maintained throughout 
the dominions of the Porte her conimercial ascendancy, and the 
French language was, in Greece as well as in Turkey, Anatolia, 
and Syria, the only medium of commercial intercourse. A 
great part of the internal commerce of European Turkey was 
still indeed in the hands of the Greeks. Notwithstanding the 
superiority which the Frank merchant enjoyed over the Greek 
native, in paying a single ad valorem duty of three per cent on 
imports and exports, while the rayah paid five per cent, in ad- 
dition to repeated charges on moving his merchandise, and the 
illegal extortions to which he was subject, — the advantages which 
a native merchant always possesses, had gradually enabled the 
Greeks to drive the Frank traders from the fairs of Greece ; 
and their competition is even said to have occasioned the de- 
cline of the European factories which had long flourished in the 
principal Turkish marts. But the immediate cause of their rapid 
transformation from a nation of pirates into active merchants, 
requires explanation. The following account is taken from the 
pages of an intelligent French writer. 

and wealth, to which the revival of learning must be ascribed. The shores of 
the Mediterranean still commanded and concentrated, at that time, the com- 
merce of the world ; and in the wake of commerce, Christianity, freedom, lit- 
erature, and the arts, have uniformly followed. The Italian republics derived 
their riches and their greatness from the commerce of the Levant ; and to the 
same cause the maritime capitals of Provence and Catalonia owed their com- 
mercial and political greatness. Barcelona was recovered from the Moors by 
Louis the Debonair, early in the ninth century. For seventy years after, it 
was governed by French viceroys, till at length, in 874, it was acknowledged 
as an independent earldom. From the earliest times, there appears to have 
been a close connexion between the Catalonian capital and Marseilles. In the 
former city, great numbers of Jews are said to have found shelter, bringing with 
them their well-known habits of mercantile enterprise. Refugees and adven- 
turers of all nations would naturally be attracted to those free and populous 
cities which held out at once religious toleration and encouragement to indus- 
try. The effect of commerce upon internal trade and manufactures need not 
be pointed out. The manufactures of Barcelona were famous in the thirteenth 
century, and are probably more ancient, while those of Marseilles were equal- 
ly, if not more consideral)le. It is remarkable, that thf^ Cathari or Puritans, 
who began to attract attention early in the twelfth century, and whom there 
is good reason to identify with the Albigenses and Vaudois, are said to have 
been called in France, Tisserands, weavers, because numbers of them were of 
that occupation : — a singular coincidence, that the Protestants, the Hugonots 
of that day, should be distinguished by a name that recalls the origin of our 
own silk manufactures, for which we are indebted to the edict of Nantz. It 
is not therefore, a mere hypothesis, but an historical fact, that the first bud- 
dings of literature, after the dreary winter of tlpe dark ages, the first kindlings 
of intellectual and moral life, took place in the immediate neighbourhood of 
those great maritime cities, which furnished at once a vent and mart for the 
productions of industry, and an inlet to knowledge as well as to wealth, and 
every humanising influence." — Eclectic Review, April 1826, p. 315. 



MODERN GREECE. 39 

" The foreign ministers to the Porte generally received a kind 
of diplonia called a harat (berath,) which secured to the bearer 
a special protection. He was treated as a subject of the pow- 
er to whose ambassador the barat had been granted, and as such, 
was secured from uU the risks of Turkish despotism. These 
barats were originally intended for subjects of the Porte em- 
ployed in the service of foreign ambassadors and consuls. A 
great number of Christian merchants soon became anxious to 
procure them, to enable them to trade freely, and save them 
from being exposed to any ill usage. The ambassadors of the 
great powers sold them as high as ten thousand piastres each ; 
those of powers of the second rank, whose protection was less 
effectual, sold them at a lower rate. Thus was purchased the 
right of becoming a foreigner in Turkey, and of enjoying by this 
means the rights of man. Russia was eager in procuring an 
extraordinary quantity of this description of charters, and dis- 
tributing them among the Greeks, to increase its influence over 
them. The Russian baratarians (berathlees) increased rapidly, 
and a part of the subjects of Turkey was thus transferred to a 
hostile court. The ignorant and indolent Divan was not sensi- 
ble of this abuse till long afterwards, and even then, not till it 
was warned by powers jealous of Russia. In the year 1806, 
the Porte protested against it, and declared that it would 
recognise no baratarians but such as actually resided with 
the respective consuls. This declaration produced a long op- 
position from the foreign ministers, who derived a considerable 
portion of their income from the sale of these. At last 
the Porte, not to alienate in this manner a part of its subjects, 
and not to give up to others so considerable an advantage, re- 
solved to take the regulation of the barats into its own hands, 
and to increase their privileges. New barats were issued, which 
secured to the holder the protection of the dragoman of the 
Porte, (who, though a Greek, possessed almost the power of a 
minister,) and of the cadi of every city in the Ottoman domin- 
ions ; they secured him against the pachas, who were bound, on 
pain of being disgraced, to respect him ; they conferred on him 
the right of carrying on trade with Europe, without paying any 
higher duties than other nations ; they allowed him to unite with 
the other holders of barats, to choose deputies and a chancellor, 
to open chambers of assurance, to be judged by arbitrators, and 
to conform to the laws of commerce, instead of being subject to 
the Turkish jurisprudence. The purchase of these rights, 
which were only those of man, was made for a pretty moderate 
sum, and the Jewish, Christian, and Greek merchants made 



40 MODERN GREECE. 

haste to obtain them ; and the number of their holders has in- 
creased so much, as to form, in the midst of the Turkish empire, 
an independent and powerful corporation, which has at its dis- 
posal all the rich commerce of the East. The Greeks especially 
have made considerable advances in commerce, by becoming 
almost all of them baratarians. Their industry has thus given 
them a taste for, and courage to maintain their independence. 
The acquisition of barats has been to them, what the emancipa- 
tion of the communes was to the French serfs in the twelfth cen- 
tury. Both obtained this emancipation by means of money ; 
and it is always the need which governments have of men, that 
secure their liberty."* 

The French Revolution had a further effect in extending the 
commerce of the Greeks, by placing in their hands the greater 
part of the carrying trade of the Black Sea and the Mediterra- 
nean, which had formerly been enjoyed by the French and the 
Italians, f With the possession of Malta, the sovereignty and 
guardianship of the Mediterranean had passed into the hands of 
Great Britain. For several years before the present insurrec- 
tion broke out, there were between 4 and 500 Greek ships em- 
ployed in the commerce, and the increase of knowledge had 
kept pace with this rapid improvement in their political condition. 
Colleges with professorships in various branches of instruction 
were instituted at Kidonies (Haivali) J and Smyrna, at Scio, and 
at Ioannina,§ besides the smaller establishments at Patmos,|| Sa- 
lonika, Ambelakia, Zagora, Athens, and Dimitzana, in the 
Morea : some of these were of old date, but had recently been 
revived or increased. " And here," remarks Mr. Leake, after 
adverting to these facts, " the reflection may be made, that if 
Greece should achieve her liberation, she will be indebted for the 
return of civilisation and independence to the same peculiarities 
of geographical position and structure, to the same indelible fea- 

* Thiers. " Pyrenees and South of France in 1822," p. 52. 

t " The island of Hydra is inhabited chiefly by sailors and ship owners, 
who, at the beginning of the Revolution, when France was shut out of the Bal- 
tic, supplied her with corn from the Archipelago." — Hope's Anastadus, vol. i. 
ch. 7, note 3. 

t The college at Haivali was foiinded in 1803. For a history of this once 
flourishing town, and its founder Economos, see Mod. Trav. Syria and Asia 
Minor, vol. ii. p. 176, &ic. 

§ loannina was famous for its schools more than half a century before, un- 
der the celebrated Methodius ; and modern Greek literature was cultivated 
there at a time when it flourished in no other part of Greece. 

II About 1770, Daniel of Patmos had a school of considerable repute, which 
sent out several good masters. 



MODERN GREECE. 41 

tures of nature, which raised her to greatness in ancient times. 
While her extensive sea-coast and numerous islands and harbours 
rendered her the country of maritime commerce, and were the 
original cause of the opulence which led to perfection in the en- 
joyments and arts of civilised life, the mountainous structure of 
tlie interior generated that free and martial spirit, which, however 
cruelly suppressed, has never been completely destroyed."* 

Between xhe mountaineers of Greece, the Mainote pirates, 
the Albanian Moreotes, the Romeliot klephts and arraatoli, 
and the sailors and merchants of Hydra and the other islands, 
there is, however, as wide a difference of character and senti- 
ment, and almost as httle disposition to coalesce, as existed be- 
tween the ancient inhabitants of Athens and Sparta. Even the 
distinctions of national origin are less marked and less attended 
to, than those which arise from opposite modes of life and local 
habits ;f and in the new Greeks, (as we might designate the 
Albanian Christians of Southern Greece and the islands,) the 
country possesses, perhaps, its most effective population. The 
Fanariots, or Constantinopolitan Greeks, and the Greek clergy, 
may be added to the enumeration, as in some respects distinct 
and differing from all. It will be necessary to explain these dis- 
tinctions. 

The moimtains of Greece have never been completely subdued 
by the Ottomans. While the Christian inhabitants of the plains 
either retired before the conquerors or became their vassals, the 
hardy peasantry of the mountains retained possession of their na- 
tive soil, where they were joined by many of the lowlanders 
fleeing from Turkish tyranny. From thence they waged a 
predatory warfare, which was not confined to their oppressors.^ 
The depopulation arising from these circumstances, together 
with frequent visitations of the plague, has produced, in many 
of the most fertile parts of Greece, desolation and consequent 
insalubrity. And the effects would have been still more exten- 
sive, had not the vacancy been in part supplied by successive 
migrations from Albania and of the Black Sea alone. The ex- 
tension of education in Bulgaria, where local wars, Mussulman 
persecution, or redundant numbers on a very poor soil, had oc- 
casionally caused even greater distress than had driven the 

* Outline, p. 25. 

t In 1818, there was a colony of Moreote refugees residing in a suburb of 
Haivali, who had been established there ever since the calamities brought 
upon their country by the Russians in 1770. Yet they preferred to live apart 
from the other Greeks, and retained a different dress. — See Jowett's Christian 
Researches, vol. i. p. 66. 

6 



42 MODERN GREECE. 

Greeks from their native lands. About two centuries ago, a 
large colony of Christian Albanians settled in Boeotia, Attica, 
and Argolis, and a small tribe passed over into the barren island 
of Hydra, where they founded the community which has since 
been so conspicuous for its commercial enterprise and opulence. 
The want of hands in the plains of Greece attracted great num- 
bers of labourers during the harvest, the vintage, and the olive- 
crop, from the islands of both seas, who returned home at the 
end of the season with the produce of their well-paid labour. 

The greater part of the peasantry in the plains of Northern 
Greece, and in the neighbourhood of the great Turkish towns, 
were unarmed ; but, in the more mountainous parts, and gene- 
rally throughout the Morea, there were few who did not possess 
a weapon of some kind. In case of any alarm of war with a 
Christian power, the Porte never failed to issue its decree for 
disarming all rayahs ; but the Turks, not being very fond of ven- 
turing into the mountainous districts, were always willing to ac- 
cept a small pecuniary compromise ; and the suiLan's commands, 
like many other of his decrees relating to his Christian subjects, 
ended in a contribution to the provincial governments. In some 
of the more mountainous parts, villages, and even whole districts, 
were left to the management of the primates [proesti or native 
magistrates), who were responsible for the payment of the ordi- 
nary contributions, and who generally farmed the taxes from the 
Turkish Government. In some parts, not even the kliaradj, or 
mountain-tax, was paid. These village oligarchs are represent- 
ed to have been, in many cases, as oppressive towards the peas- 
antry as they were contentious and jealous of each other ; and 
the more powerful chieftains would often league with the pasha 
to plunder their fellow Christians. " These persons," says Mr. 
Leake, " being interested in the continuance of ignorance and 
Turkish tyranny, were, together with some of the higher clergy, 
the greatest obstacles to national improvement ; for the latter 
class, having generally procured their ecclesiastical dignities at a 
considerable expense, were, (except in the greater permanence 
of their offices) placed in a situation very similar to that of the 
Turkish governors' of provinces and districts, whose bbject it 
necessarily was, to exact from the governed as much as they 
possibly could during their transitory authority." 

The armatoli were originally a species of militia, an establish- 
ment of the Byzantine empire, whose most important office was 
to keep the roads clear of robbers, and to guard the mountain 
passes. The Ottomans found it necessary to maintain tlie same, 
kind of police ; and all Greece, from the river Axius to the 



MODERN GREECE. 43 

Istlimus, was gradually dixided into seventeen armatoliks. Of 
these, ten were in Thessaly and Livadia, four in Etolia, Acar- 
nania, and Epirus, and three in Southern Macedonia. The 
IMorea never contained any. The rank of a captain of arraatoU 
was hereditary. The members of each band were called pa- 
likars (bravos or heroes), and the protopalikdr acted as lieuten- 
ant ancl secretauy to the cajyitcmGS. In addition to the bodies of 
armatoli acknowledged by the Porte, all the mountain communi- 
ties maintained a small body of palikars, professedly for the pro- 
tection of the district ; but more frequently they were employed 
against a neighbouring rival, or to withstand either Turkish or 
Albanian encroachments. 

The klephtai, or robbers, (and they gloried in the name,) 
differed chiefly from the armatoli in preferring open rebellion 
and the adventurous life of marauders, to any compromise with 
then- -.Turkish masters. In fact, the only distinction vanished, 
when, as often happened, the discontented or oppressed arma- 
tole became a klepht, or when it suited the Turkish pashas to 
include them under one common title. Owing to this, the 
terms came to be often used indiscriminately ; and in Thessaly, 
the word klepht designated either or both. Their general char- 
acter and habits are thus portrayed by an enthusiast in the cause 
of Greece, to whose hereditary talent we are indebted for a 
translation of some of the more popular ballads still current in 
the highlands, — the minstrelsy of the Grecian border.* 

" The klephts were hardy to a degree scarcely credible. 
They had no fixed encampment, wandering in summer among 
the higher, in winter, over the lower mountainous regions. 
But they had always a spot for rendezvous and occasional so- 
journ, called limeri, situated near the armatolik from which they 
had been driven. When not engaged in an expedition, their 
chief resource for amusement was found in martial games, and 
particulai'ly in firing at a mark. Constant practice in this led to a 
surprising degree of skill. By day-light, they could strike an 
egg, or even send a ball through a ring of nearly the same di- 
ameter, at a distance of 200 paces ; and in the most pitchy 
darkness, they could hit an enemy, directed only by the flash of 
his musket. The activity of their limbs equalled the correct- 

* Sheridan's " Songs of Greece." London, 1825. One highly characteris- 
tic mark, Mr. Sheridan says, distinguished the klepht kom a regular arma- 
tole : this was a worsted rope coiled round his waist, for the purpose of binding 
the Turks whom he might capture, who were generally kept for the sake of 
ransom ; " though, on occasions when it was impossible to make prisoners, 
they were killed like wolves, without hesitation." 



44 MODERN GREECE. 

ness of their eye. Niko Tzaras could jump over seven horses 
standing abreast, and others could clear, at one leap, three wag- 
ons filled with thorns to the height of eight feet. Their powers 
of abstinence were not less surprising. A band of klephts have 
been known to combat during three days and nights, widiout 
either eating, drinking, or sleeping.* Pain found their courage 
as untameable as thirst and hunger, although ev,ery klepht taken 
alive was inevitably subjected, before death came to his relief, to 
the most dreadful and protracted tortures. The klephts combined 
to a degree very rare among a rude tribe, an enthusiastic piety, 
with a distrust of the clergy, and of that union of church and state, 
the efficacy of which for the support of despotism and the riv- 
etting of mental chains, was no where better understood than in 
Turkey, where the sultan was in fact the real head of the 
Christian, as well as of the Mahommedan hierarchy. Yet, in 
their wildest solitudes, in their most pressing dangers, they per- 
formed the ceremonies of their religion ; and the captain who 
plundered a chapel or a votive offering, was as unrelentingly put 
to death as if he had insulted a female captive. Blachavas, 
with his protopalikar, left his beloved mountains, at the age of 
seventy-six, to visit the holy city on foot, and actually died at 
Jerusalem. Frequent as apostacy was for ages among the 
harassed inhabitants of the plains, never did a klepht hesitate to 
prefer captivity, death, and even tortures, to the denial of his 
Redeemer. Yet, they had the sagacity to perceive, that the 
clergy, who looked to the Turks for promotion, and whose cor- 
porate property the infidels always respected, must be suspici- 
ous friends, and often dangerous enemies to the revolted Greeks. 
The clergy of Greece have been her curse, alike under the By- 

* The instance referred to in substantiation of this statement, is that of the 
famous Thessalian klepht, Niko Tzaras, who, on his road to join Prince Ipsi- 
lanti in Wallachia, at the head of 300 klephts, was stopped at the bridge of 
Pravi, on the banks of the Karasou, by 3000 Turks : he " broke through 
thera, crossed the bridge, and entered Pravi, where his gallant band re- 
freshed themselves, after a fast of four, and a fight of three days." This was 
in 1804 or 5 : he perished about two years after in an affray, by the hand of 
an assassin who had been one of his own palikers. — Sheridan's Songs of 
Greece, p. 63. Another remarkable story is that of Spiros Skyllodemos, of an 
ancient armatoli family in Acarnania. In 1806, he fell into the hands of Ali 
Pasha, who threw him into a deep dungeon, where he lay for many months, 
chained and immersed in mud and water. By means of a long sash and a 
file, he one night escaped from prison, but the gates of the citadel were 
closed. As his sole chance of escape, he buried himself to the throat in the 
forest of reeds which fringes the lake of Joannina, endured in this situation dur- 
ing three days and nights the extremes of cold and hunger ; then, seizing a 
boat, crossed the lake and escaped by mountain paths into Acarnania. He 
was subsequently pardoned by Ali, and became protopalikar to Odysseus, when 
appointed by that pasha commander in Livadia. — Ibid. p. 52. 



MODERN GREECE. 45 

zantine and under tlie Tatar systems of tyranny, and would 
equally continue to be so if the Scytliians seized the country. 
Contemporaneous documents exist to shew, that the Russian 
cabinet fully expects to receive tliis assistance from the hierarchy 
of Greece. Next to their touching piety, the most striking 
qualities among the klephts were, generosity to their poorer and 
more timid countrymen, and especially to the herdsmen who 
shared the mountains with them ; devoted love of their country 
in general, and of tlieir own rugged haunts in paiticular ; and 
tenderness in those domestic affections which formed a beautiful 
relief to the stern and rugged parts of their character."* 

Such were the klephts, with a view to the extirpation of 
whom, the Porte bestowed on Ali Pasha of loannina the import- 
ant office of Dervenji Bashi, or Grand Inspector of the Passes 
of Northern Greece ; an appointment from which he dated his 
fortune and his power. Having succeeded in recommending 
himself to the Turkish Government as a fit and proper person 
to undertake to clear the roads of robbers and rebels, he soon 
made liimself at once too useful and too powerful to be dis- 
placed. The steps by which he arrived at the height of bis all 
but absolute power, must now be briefly traced. 

Ali, whose surname was Hissas, was born at Tepeleni, a 
small towTi of the Toshke clan, situated on the left bank of the 
Voi'ussa, about the year 1748.f His family had been estab- 
lished in that place for several centuries ; and one of his ances- 
tors, named Muzzo, having been very successful in the honour- 
able profession of a klepht, procured for himself the lordship of 
Tepeleni, which he transmitted to his descendants. All's grand- 
father, Mouktar Bey, was deemed the greatest warrior of his age, 
and fell bravely fighting at the siege of Corfu, leaving three sons. 
Veli Bey, the father of Ali, was the youngest : though in early 
life a professed klepht and a fratricide, he is said to have been a 
man of humane disposition and extremely well disposed to the 

* Sheridan, pp. xxv. — xxxi. The character of the religion of the Greeks? 
and of klephtic piety, will be considered hereafter. The above remarks would 
seem to apply more particularly to the higher order of clergy, but the writer's 
indiscriminate censure of the hierarchy is alike indiscreet and unjust. The 
Revolution has drawn forth many patriotic priests and prelates, and not a few 
of the order have been its victims. In fact, Greek priests are represented by 
Col. Stanhope as having been chiefly instrumental in bringing about the Rev- 
olution; many of them fought in the ranks, some as captains; and several 
members of the executive, as well as of the legislative body, are ecclesi- 
astics. 

t M. Pouqueville, indeed, makes Ali to have been 78 years of age in 1819, 
which would carry back bis birth to 1741 ; but he does not give his au- 
thority. 



46 MODERN GREECE. 

Greeks.* He held for some time thepashalik of Delvino, but was 
deprived of it by the intrigues of a cabal, and retired in chagrin to 
his native lordship of Tepeleni, where, harassed by the neigh- 
bouring beys and agas, and unable to make head against his 
enemies, he is stated to have died of grief and vexation at the 
age of forty-five, leaving five children. f The mother of Ali 
and of his sister Shainitza, was a woman of uncommon talents 
and undaunted courage, fierce and implacable as a tigress. " I 
owe every thing to my mother," said Ali, alluding to the educa- 
tion he received from her, and the ambitious projects with which 
she inspired him. At the death of his father, Ali was under 
fourteen years of age ; an obstinate, petulant, intractable child ; 
but he was attached to his mother, and she was well able to as- 
sert her authority. So long as Veli Bey lived, Khamco had 
appeared only an ordinary woman; but now, with courage 
equal to her ambition, she renounced the spindle for the sword, 
the veil for the helmet, and with a handful of faithful followers, 
defended the remainder of her possessions against the hostile 
clans, and effectually checked their encroachments. At one 
time, she was taken prisoner, together with her daughter Shain- 
itza, by the inhabitants of Gardiki, who are said to have treated 
their captives with almost incredible brutality : if authenticated, 
it would go far to extenuate the dreadful retribution with which, 
forty years after, the town was visited at the hands of Ali. 
After enduring this barbarous treatment for more than a month, 
they obtained their liberty, — it is said by ransom ; at all events, 
Khamco was reinstated at Tepeleni, where she still continued to 
maintain her authority, till Ali grew old enough and powerful 
enough to take the burden of government off her hands. J 

* This excellent pei-son, as Mr. Hughes characterises him, having been ex- 
pelled his paternal home by his two brothers, on the death of the father, fol- 
lowed for some years the profession of knight-errant of the mountains, till, 
having collected a sufficient sum to retire on, he suddenly appeared with his 
banditti before Tepeleni, and burned his two brothers in their own citadel. 
He then took quiet possession of the family title and estates, prudently re- 
nouncing his old trade forever. 

t M. Pouqueville says that he was carried off by a disorder, " attribute a 
des exces bachiques." He says nothing of his having filled the office of pasha 
of Delvino, and attributes his quarrels with his neighbours to his unsubdued 
klephtic propensities. 

t In attempting to combine the various accounts of Ali's early life in a con- 
sistent narrative, we are met at every step by irreconcileable contradictions or 
disciepancies. The Rev. T. S. Hughes, who appears to have taken consider- 
able pains in collecting authentic materials, states, that Veli Bey left two wid- 
ows and three children, attributing to Khamco, Ali's mother, the poisoning 
both of her rival and of the elder son. M. Pouqueville (whom the compiler of 
the Life of Ali Fasha, 8vo. 1823, has copied) states, that Veli left Jive, chil- 



MODERN GREECE. 47 

Ali's first exploits, undertaken, as it should seem, without the 
sanction of his mother, were more daring than successful. Be- 
fore he had attained his sixteenth year, he had acquired as 
much celebrity as the fabled offspring of Jupiter and Maia, and 
in tlie same honourable calling. He plundered all his neigh- 
bours, till he found hiiuself possessed of means sufficient to 
raise a small number of partisans ; and now commencing ope- 
rations on a bolder scale, he undertook an expedition against 
the town of Chormovo. He was beaten, and re-entered Tepe- 
leni a fugitive, where he had to encounter the indignant taunts 
of liis mother, who bade him, coward as he was, go join the 
women of the harem. Again, however, he took the field, and 
having commenced hostile operations in the sanjiak of Avlona, 
was taken prisoner. Kourd Pasha, into whose hands he had thus 
fallen, was an old man of mild and humane character. Struck, 
it is said, with the youthful beauty, the graceful manners, and 
the natural eloquence of the young klepht, he satisfied himself 

dcen, but that the mother of the elder two died before him. He imputes to 
Khamco the poisoning of the elder brother, and says, that the idiocy of a sec- 
ond was believed to have been caused by her hand. According to M. de Vau- 
doncourt, on the contrary, whose narrative bears stronger internal marks of 
authenticity, the brother was made away with at the time that Ali seized the 
reins of authority from the hands of his mother, and the suspicion of fratricide 
attached to Ali. " The partisans of Ali Pasha," he says, " assert, that Ali's 
mother caused him to be poisoned, in order to secure to her own son the remains 
of his father's inheritance, and free him from a dangerous rival. This report 
is, at least, most prevalent throughout the whole of his states. His enemies, on 
the contrary, affirm, that it was he himself who stabbed his brother, having 
persuaded the multitude that he was engaged in a treacherous correspondence 
with their enemies. It is thus also that the story is related in the Ionian 
Islands " M. Pouquevil)e, too, kills one of Ali's brothers at this period. 
Again, with regard to the alleged treatment of Ali's mother and sister at Gar- 
diki, Mr. Hughes tells us, that the people of that town secretly attacked Tepe- 
leni by night, and succeeded in carrying them off ; that their subsequent es- 
cape was effected through the generous aid of an individual Gardikiote, 
named Dosti, " whose turn it was to receive them into his dwelling;" he es- 
corted them in safety to Tepeleni, " where they found the indignant Ali just 
preparing" (after the lapse of a month!) " to attempt their liberation with a 
large body of troops he had collected ;" further, that, on discovering the flight 
of their captives, the people of the town pursued them, but in vain, and on 
their return, set fire to Dosti's house. M. Pouqueville's version of the story is, 
that Ali was taken prisoner with his mother and sister ; that it was by means 
of an ambuscade ; and that their liberation was effected by a Greek merchant 
t)f Argyro Castro, who ransomed them for 22,800 piasters (about 3,700/.). 
The atrocious treatment they are said to have met with, the most improbable 
as well as revolting part of the tale, is, strange to say, the only point in which 
the two stories agree. M. de Vaudoncourt, without adverting to the circum- 
stances alluded to, simply says : " It was about this time that she (Ali's moth- 
er) was taken prisoner by the inhabitants of Goriiza, when her ransom aJj- 
sorbed the greater part of the treasures she had been able to save." 



48 MODERN GREECE. 

with reprimanding himj and, after a friendly detention, dismissed 
him with presents.* 

It must have been about this period that, at the head of thirty 
palikars, he entered into the service of the pasha of Egripo. 
From this engagement, though it could not have been of long 
duration, he reaped sufficient wealth to enable him, on his re- 
turn to his native mountains, to re-commence operations as a klepht 
on a grander scale. After some successes near Tepeleni, he 
turned his steps towards the passes of Pindus, and pillaged some 
hamlets of the canton of Zagora ; but being overtaken and de- 
feated by the vizir of loannina, he was made prisoner a second 
time. And now, we are told, the neighbouring beys, and more 
especially Selim, pasha of Delvino, urged the necessity of inflict- 
ing summary justice on the incorrigible marauder. The vizir, 
however, had his reasons for not obliging them in this matter. 
He knew that he had less to dread from Ali than from the beys 
of Argyro-castro and Premeti, while Selim's Venetian connex- 
ions rendered him equally an object of suspicion ; he therefore 
was not sorry to afford them fresh occupation, and he turned Ali 
loose again, who it is said, gave him no further cause for inquie- 
tude during the rest of his days. Nevertheless, collecting the 
remains of his scattered troops, he again ventured to take the 
field, but was beaten afresh near the sources of the Chelydnus ; 
and so complete was the rout, that he was obliged to seek for 
refuge alone on Mount Mertzika. Here he was reduced to 
pledge his scimitar, in order to procure barley for his horse, no 
longer able to carry him. 

On returning again to Tepeleni, a fugitive, he was assailed by 
his mother with harsher reproaches than ever. When, with 
great difficulty he appeased her, and obtained further supplies, 

* M. Pouqueville's account of this transaction is as follows : — " Ons'attendait 
qiCMi Tibelen, dont Us compagnons d'armes furent pendus, strait puni sup- 
plice reserv6 aux brigands ; mais qiumd Courd pasha vit a ses pieds un jeune 
hoinme avec lequel il avail des liens de parcnid, it cv.t pilii de ses igarements, et 
reiint sa coBre. Mi 6tait dans cet dge ou Vhomme interesse. line longue cheve 
lure blonde, des yeux Mens, remplis de feu et brillants d'isprit une eloquence 
iiaturelle, achevdrent de gagner le cceur du vieux visir, qui le garda plusieun 
annees dans sonpalais, oii il lui prodiguait ses bienfails, en tdchant de le ramener 
dans le sentier de laprobite. Enfin, louche par les pritres de Khamco, qui re- 
dtmandod sans cesse son cher fits, il le lui rendit, en les prevenani Vun et V autre, 
qu'ils n'auraient phis de grace a esperer s'ils osaient Irouhler I'ordre public. Its 
promirent done de rester tranquilles, et its tinrent parole aussi long-temps que 
Courd pasha vecui." Mr. Hughes makes both the wife and the daughter of 
Kourd Pasha fall in love with the young hero ; and adds, that in a war which 
broke out between Kourd and the pasha of Scutari, Ali so distinguished him- 
self and gained on the affections of the soldiery, that Kourd's/ta^narfar (treasurer) 
advised his master either to put him to death, or make him his son-in-law. 
Kourd preferred the middle course of honourably dismissing him with presents. 



MODERN GREECE. ' 49 

tliey were accompanied with the injunction not to return again 
but either as a conqueror or a corpse. " Witli the money thus 
obtained, AJi immediately collected 600 men, and directed his 
march through tlie valley of the Chelydnus towards Mertzika 
and Premeti. His first battle was again unsuccessful, and he 
was obliged to retire with loss. Having encamped the remnant 
of his troops in the vicinity of a deserted chapel not far from 
Valera, he entered into the solitary pile to repose, as well, as to 
meditate on liis bereft situation. There, he said, (for it was 
from himself the narrative was obtained,) reflecting on that for- 
tune by which he was persecuted, calculating the enterprises he w^as 
still able to attempt, and comparing the weakness of his means 
with the forces he had to combat, he remained a long time in a 
standing posture, mechanically furrowing up the ground with his 
stick, which the violence of his sensations caused him frequently 
to strike with vehemence. The resistance of a solid body, and 
the sound which issued from it, recalled his attention. He bent 
down, and examined the hole he had unconsciously made, 
and ha^dng dug further, had the happiness to find a casket. 
The gold which it contained, enabled him to levy 2000 men, 
and having been successful in a second battle, he returned to 
Tepeleni a victor. From this period, fortune never abandoned 
liimr"* 

* Vaudoncourt, p. 226. Mr. Hughes tells the same tale, with some slight 
variation. M. Poaqueville says, the whole story is a fiction, invented by a 
Greek named Psallida, and that Ali himself told him so. " Cela donne une 
physionomie miraculeuse a ma fortune,'' was his indignant remark. It may be 
true, nevertheless. In Mr. Hughes's narrative, however, Ali is represented as 
having dated the commencement of his good fortune from a still more roman- 
tic circumstance. He had, it seems, got married, and having raised fresh 
levies, was determined to make one last desperate effort against his ancient 
foes. In this expedition he was accompanied by his mother and his bride. 
The confederate beys of Argyro-castro, Gardiki, Kaminitza, Goritza, Chormo- 
vo, fee. opposed him with an overwhelming force, and the Tepelenites were 
totally routed. The chiefs of Argyro-castro and Gardiki had returned home, 
when Ali resolved on the bold and decisive manoeuvre of going alone by night 
to the camp of the other confederates and placing his life and fortunes in their 
hands. The hazard he ran was not so great as might at first appear, since a vol- 
untary suppliant is sure of obtaining protection from an Albanian chieftain ; but 
Ali aimed at something more than securing his own safety. He sought to wia 
them over to his cause, by representing that his enemies were in fact theirs ; 
that the absent chiefs were already too formidable, and that they sought his 
destruction, only to be enabled the more easily to place the yoke on their 
necks. And so well did he succeed in rousing the jealousy of the beys, that 
they not only determined to spare his life, but to range themselves under his 
standaid. All's mother, who, on discovering his flight, had, we are told, given 
way to transports of alarm or vexation, met him returning at the head of the 
troops who had fought against him. By the support thus obtained, he secured 
an honourable peace, and secured his future fortune. On reaching Tepeleni, 
he took possession of the place as its master. 

7 



50 MODERN GEEECE. 

And now it was, as it should seem, that All resolved to take 
the management of affairs into his own hands. Having gained 
over the principal chiefs of Tepeleni, he took possession of the 
fortress, and confined his mother thenceforth to tlie harem. She 
died soon after.* The state of his coffers being, however, un- 
equal to his ambitious projects, he resolved to have recourse to 
his old profession. Having secured the whole of the defiles 
leading across the chain of Pindus into Thessaly and Macedonia, 
he pillaged and ransomed travellers and caravans, levied contri- ' 
butions on the villages, and sacked several defenceless places, 
till the ravages committed awakened the attention of the divan, 
and the dervenji pasha was ordered to march against him. The 
office was at this time held by no other person than All's old 
friend Kourd Pasha, who soon found it adviseable to attempt to 
settle matters by negotiation, as there was little prospect of ac- 
complishing it by force of arms. He invited Ali to a conference, 
at which the latter displayed his usual address, and the old vizu* 
was induced to accept of his services in the warfare he was 
prosecuting against the rebel pasha of Scutari. The effective 
aid which Ali rendered, secured the success of the expedition, 
and his conduct was represented in the most favourable light at 
Constantinople. 

Supported by this powerful alliance, Ali now came to be held 
in high consideration, and the pasha of Argyro-castro granted 
his daughter to him, by whom he had his two eldest sons, Mouk- 
tar and Veli.f His ambitious projects soon began to develop 
themselves. The towns of Kaminitza and Goritza first fell 

* Her death, Mr. Hughes says, has been ascribed to Ali's jealous policy, but 
without foundation. M. Pouqueville, indeed, gives a most horrific account of 
her death. " La modcrne Olympins, atteinte depuis long-temps d'un cancer 
utdrin, fruit honteux de sa depravation, termina sa carriere, apres s'Stre defaite 
par le poison du dernier desfrtres consanguins d'Mi Pacha. Telle fut la Jin de 
sa vie, dont elle employa les derniers moments a se faire relire son testament, 
monument digne des furies. Cet acle prescrivaii a Mi et a Shainitza, d'extermi- 
ner, d^s qu'ils le pourraient, Its habitants de Cardiki et de Cormovo, dont elle 
avait it6 I'esclave, ainsi qu'eux ; leur donnant sa malediction sHls contrevenaient 
jamais a ce dessein . . . .La personne de qui je tiens ces details, ajoute, que, suffo- 
qu6e par une hydrothorax, et rongi", par un ulcere devorante, elle expira dans 
des transports de rage, en vomissant d'horribles imprications contre la providence 
iternelle." This is sufficiently diamatic. Ali, it is added, did not arrive at 
Tepeleni till an hour after his mother had expired ; he bedewed her remains 
with his tears, and joining hands with his amiable sister, swore to accomplish 
the dying injunctions of his mother. That part of her will, however, which 
directed that a pilgrim should be sent to Mekka, to present an offering at the 
tomb of the Prophet for the repose of her soul, was never performed, because 
the law requires that the property so offered should have been legitimately 
acquired ! ! 

t His marriage must have taken place long before this, if, as M. de Vau- 
doncourt states, he was only twenty years of age when he married. 



MODERN GREECE. • 51 

under liis power : tliey were taken aiid pillaged. His next at- 
tempt was a daring one. The old pasha of Argyro-castro, Ali's 
fatlier-in-law, had died, and the elder son had been assassinated 
by his brodier. Ali hastened to allay the civdl war this murder 
had given rise to ; but the inhabitants, aware of his designs, 
united against him, and he was compelled to wthdraw.* About 
diis period, he is stated to have entered into a war with the town 
of Liebovo (or Libochobo), wliich, after an ineffectual resist- 
ance, submitted to his arms. Lekli, Giates, and some other 
places were subdued in the same manner. He now determined 
to attack the sti'ong place of Chormovo, on the inhabitants of 
which he had vowed vengeance. Internal dissensions favoured 
his project. The inliabitants, alarmed at his approach, endeav- 
oured to propitiate him by submission ; but Ali, having decoyed 
the chief citizens to a conference, had them treacherously seized, 
while his troops fell upon the defenceless inhabitants, massacred 
a great number, and razed tlie town to the ground. The wo- 
men and children were sold into slavery. One individual par- 
ticularly obnoxious to Ali, named Papas Oglou, or Krauz Prifti 
(son of a priest), is stated to have been impaled and roasted 
alive by his orders : the executioner was a black slave, his 
foster brother. By this execrable act of vengeance, he spread 
a terror of his name tliroughout the neighbouring tribes, f 

* M. Pouqaeville gives a totally different account. In the first place, he 
states, that Ali was about twenty-four when he married Emina, the daughter 
of Capelan the tiger, pasha of Delvino, who resided at Argyro-castro ; this 
said Capelan, urged on by his worthy son-in-law, is represented as having se- 
cretly favoured tlie Montenegrins, while Ali gave secret iiiformation of his dis- 
loyalty to the Porte. Capelan was consequently sent for to answer for his 
conduct, and his son-in-law strongly urged him to obey the summons ; he lost 
his head of course, but the pashalik was given to Ali of Argyro-castro, and 
the traitor was disappointed. The insurrection of Stephano Piccolo took 
place in 1767: and, if this account be correct, Ali must have been born before 
1747, or he could not have become Capelan's son-in-law by that time at twenty- 
four years of age, and have acted subsequently the part here ascribed to him. 
M. Pouqueville goes on to state, that a marriage was brought about between 
the new pasha of Delvino and Shainitza, Ali's sister; but the pasha in vain 
endeavoured to conciliate the good-will of his brother-in-law by benefits. Not 
having been able to persuade his sister to poison her husband, Ali found means 
to persuade the pasha's brother Soliman to turn assassin, on condition of 
marrying the widow ! Again, however, Ali was disappointed of obtaining the 
vacant pashalik, which vvas given to Selim Bey, whose treacherous assassina- 
tion by his dear friend Ali, is not very consistently made to follow close upon 
the breaking out of the war in 1768. According to this statement, Ali must 
have got rid of three successive pashas of Delvino in about a twelvemonth ! 

t Tills act of diabolical cruelty, which reminds us of the crusaders, seems to 
be the best attested part of the narrative. Vassily, Mr. Hobhouse's attendant, 
(who appears to have been a native of Chormovo, although the name of the 
place is not given,) told him, that he had many a time gone down with the men 
of the village, and broken All's windows with shot when he durst not stir out 



62 MODERN GREECE. 

These expeditions had made him master of the whole valley 
of the Chelydnus in front of Argyro-oastro, which he held under 
observation, while the inhabitants on their side established a sort 
of redoubt, and a post of 500 men on the bridge below the city. 
He is said to have even made attempts at this time on both loan- 
nina and Arta, but was repelled. Shortly after, by means of 
his emissaries at Constantinople, he procured a commission for 
attacking Selim, pasha of Delvino, who had fallen under the 
displeasure of the Porte for having delivered up to the Vene- 
tians the fortress and territory of Bucintro. Resorting to his 
favoiirite measures of deceit, he appeared before Delvino with 
only a small band of troops, under pretence of flying from his 
enemies. Having gained the confidence of the unsuspecting 
Selim, as well as of his son Mustafa, he was enabled to surround 
them with his own satellites. He caused the father to be be- 
headed, and the son to be Arrested, and succeeded in carrying 
off his prisoner in the precipitate retreat which he was obliged 
to make, in order to escape from the indignation of the inhabi- 
tants. He obtained a large sum as a ransom for his captive, but 
this was the only fruit of his perfidy. 

In the mean time, Kourd Pasha having fallen into disgrace,* 
a new dervenji pasha had been appointed, who, either actuated 
by the policy of setting a thief to catch a thief, or influenced by 
more substantial inducements, named Ali as his lieutenant. In- 
stead of clearing the roads of banditti, Ali commenced a trade 
in licenses, which he sold regularly to the klephts, receiving over 
and above, a per centage on their booty. This traffic did not 
last, however, above six months, though Ali is said to have 
cleared 150,000 piastres by the job. The country, as the natu- 
ral consequence, having become quite impassable, the dervenji 
pasha was recalled, and paid the penalty of his head, while his 
crafty lieutenant bought himself off. 

So high did Ali's character, however, now stand for bravery, 
or so well was his money laid out at Constantinople, that, on the 
breaking out of the war with Russia, he obtained a command, 
at the head of his Albanian corps, in the army of the grand 

of Tepeleni. "Well," he was asked, "and what did Ali do to the men of 
your village ?" '■^Nothing at all; he made friends with our chief man, per- 
suaded him to come to Tepeleni, and there roasted him on a spit; after which, 
we submitted." — Hobhouse's Mbania, letter xi. 

* Kourd Pasha is styled by Mr. Hughes and M. Pouqueville, vizir and pasha 
of Berat. M. de Vaudoncourt says, he was vizir of Avlona; that on his dis- 
grace, the sanjiak of Avlona was dismembered, several districts passing under 
the control of the vizir of Scutari, while others were united to the sanjiak of 
Elbassan, whose pasha was created a vizir, and fixed his residence at Berat. 



MODERN GREECE. 53 

vizir Jousouf. " His conduct during the war," we are told by 
M. de Vaudoncourt, " was brilliant : his military talents and the 
valour of his soldiers, inured by twenty years of war and victory, 
obtained for him general esteem, and at the same time tended 
greatly to enrich him. But his attention was not withdrawn from 
his ambidous projects. Hitherto, he had no government, no title, 
and he wished to be a sovereign, whatever was the sacrifice. 
Under the pretext of obtaining the release of Mahmoud, one of 
his nephews, who had been taken prisoner by the Russians, he 
entered into correspondence with Prince Potemkin. The eor- 
respondence soon became active, and took a direction favoura- 
ble to the interests of Russia, who would have been able at 
that time to rely on Ali Bey in case of a fresh expedition to the 
Mediterranean. The correspondence between Ali and the Rus- 
sian Government lasted tiU he had become master of loannina, 
as well as of nearly all Albania, and had no longer any direct in- 
terest in aiding the designs of that power."* 

The war being ended, Ali had gained sufficient credit at Con- 
stantinople to have himself nominated to the government of Tric- 
cala in Thessaly, with the rank of a pasha of two tails. The 
situation of this place was particularly adapted to his views. It 
commands the passage of merchandise from loannini to Constan- 
tinople ; and whoever possesses the country has it in his power 
to intercept all supplies of corn from the fertile plains of Thes- 
saly, upon which the provinces of Western Greece frequently 
depend for tiieir subsistence. Here he established himself as ab- 
solute master over all Thessaly, except Larissa, which is an in- 
dependent jurisdiction. The people of loannini, particularly 
the Greek merchants, who feared his exactions, beheld with the 
more alarm their formidable neighbour, inasmuch as complete 
anarchy then prevailed in that city. The turbulent and powerful 
beys were not only in rebellion against the pasha, but were 
engaged in the fiercest contests with one another, so that it was 
frequendy unsafe for a person to stir out into the streets. The 
most atrocious murders were committed in open day, till the 
very bazar became deserted. At length, the death of the pasha 
aiForded Ali the golden opportunity he had been watching for. 

* Vaudoncourt, p. 234. The Author himself sayv at loannina a watch set in 
diamonds, which Potemkin presented to Ali after the treaty of peace had 
been signed, "in testimony of esteem for his bravery and talents." Mr. 
Hughes says, that Ali had conceived strong hopes of being acknowledged sov- 
ereign of Epirus when his friend should be seated on the throne of Constan- 
tinople ; that the correspondence which Potemkin held with Ali and many 
other Greek and Turkish chieftains, became known to Catherine, and proba- 
bly precipitated the fall of the favourite. 



54 MODERN GREECE. 

We give the sequel in the words of Mr. Hughes, with whose 
narrative the statement of M. de Vaudoncourt substantially 
agrees. 

" When Ali thought affairs were ripe enough for his presence, 
he collected a considerable number of troops, passed the chain 
of Mount Pindus, and made his appearance on the plains to the 
north of loannini. This manoeuvre caused great consternation 
in the city : the beys, in imminent danger, stifled their enmity to- 
wards each other, joined their forces together, and advanced to 
meet the invader. In a great battle which was fought at the 
head of the lake, they were beaten and driven back into the city 
by Ali, who encamped before it with his victorious troops. Not 
being strong enough to attempt it by storm, he employed a surer 
method for success. He had already gained a considerable 
number of adherents amongst the Greeks in the city, and 
especially in the district of Zagori : these by bribery and large 
promises he engaged to enter into his views and send a deputation 
to Constantinople, to solicit for him the pashalik. They acted as 
he requested ; but the opposite interest proved too strong for 
them at the Porte, and they were made the bearers of an order 
to their principal to retire immediately to his own government and 
disband his troops. One of the deputies, most attached to his 
interest, rode forward night and day, to give him early informa- 
tion of the failure of their mission, and on this occasion Ali 
executed one of those strokes of policy which has given him 
such advantage over the imbecility of the Ottoman Porte. Af- 
ter a short consultation with his friend, he dismissed him to re- 
turn and meet the deputies, who waited a few days on the road, 
and then proceeded straight to loannina. The beys, to whom 
its contents had been already intimated, advanced as far as the 
suburbs to meet the firman. It was produced, and drawn out of 
its crimson case ; when each reverently applied it to his forehead, 
in token of submission to its dictates. It was then opened, and 
to the utter consternation of the assembly, it announced Ali, 
pasha of loannina, and ordered instant submission to his 
authority. 

" The forgery was suspected by many, but some credited it ; 
whilst others, by timely submission, sought to gain favour with 
the man who they foresaw would be their ruler : in short, his 
partisans exerted themselves on all sides, the beys were dispirit- 
ed, and whilst they were irresolute and undetermined, Ali enter- 
ed the city amidst the acclamations of the populace. His chief 
enemies in the mean time sought their safety by flight, passing 



MODERN GREECE. 55 

over the lake and taking refuge in the districts of Arta, Etolia, 
and Acarnania. 

" Ali's first cai*e was to cahn tlie fears of all ranks ; to the 
people, he promised protection ; to the beys who remained, rich 
offices and plunder ; his friends were amply recompensed, and 
his enemies reconciled by his frankness and engaging affability. 
In the mean time he put a strong garrison into the castron or for- 
ti'ess, and thus acquired firm possession of the pashalik before 
tlie imposture of the firman was discovered. It was now too 
late to dispossess liim of his acquisition : his adherents increased 
daily ; a numerous and respectable deputation, led by Signore 
Allessio's father, carried a petition to Constantinople, and second- 
ing it with bribes to a large amount, ultimately prevailed in es- 
tablisliing his usurped dominion. Thus, according to custom, 
despotism succeeded to the turbulence of faction, and the people 
not unwillingly submitted to the change." 

Soon afterwards, Ali, doubtless by the same potent agency — 
gold, obtained fi-om the Porte the important office of dervenji- 
pasha of Rumelia : whether he had a lieutenant, is not stated, 
but if he had, he took good care that he should not trade in 
licenses to the klephts. This office not only augmented his rev- 
enue, but gave him an opportunity to create an influence in 
many provinces of the Turkish empire. His next step was to 
pick a quarrel with his neighbour, the Pasha of Arta, and to 
annex liis territories, as well as the whole of Acarnania, to his 
own dominions. Then, in order to establish a free communica- 
tion between loannina and his native territory, he attacked and 
took possession of the strong post of Klissura, following it up by 
the reduction of Premeti, Ostanizza, and Konitza, which secure 
the whole course of the Voi'ussa, from its source in Mount Pin- 
dus, to Tepeleni.* 

* Klissura is situated at the entrance of the narrow defile anciently called 
the Fauces Antigontce Stena Jloi, where, in the first Macedonian war, Pliilip 
stopped the advance of the Roman legions till the key of his position was be- 
trayed to Flaminius by a shepherd. Liv. 1. xxxii. c. 5. The mountains forming 
the defile are now called, those on the north side Trebechina and Mejcurani, 
those on the south Melcliiovo. The defile is about ten miles in length from 
Klissura, (which, from the remains of Cyclopean masonry observable there, 
Mr. Hughes supposes to be the site of Antigonea,) to the junction of the Aous 
with the river of Argyro-castro above Tepeleni. The precipices on each side are 
tremendous, being not much less than a thousand feet in perpendicular height. 
Premeti, which some persons have taken for Antigonea, is about twelve miles 
higher up the Aous or Voiussa. Hughes ii. p. 119. M. Pouqueville states that 
the bey of Klissoura at this time was Mourad, Ali's own nephew ; and he gives 
a very minute account of his assassination by his uncle, who pretended to 
have been attacked by him. Mr. Hughes says, " I have read, in an account 
which pretends to be genuine, that Ali shot his favourite nephew in one of the 



56 MODERN GBEECE. 

Soon after this, Ibrahim Pasha, of Berat, who had formerly 
rejected his alliance, gladly accepted the proposal to affiance his 
three daughters to the two sons and nephew of Ali, who himself 
espoused the rich widow of a pasha with a considerable dowry in 
land. 

The accession of Ali Pasha to the government of loannina is 
stated by M. Pouqueville to have taken place towards the end of 
the year 1788. In the following year the Sultan Abdulhamid 
died, and was succeeded by Selim III. who, on his exchanging 
the imprisonment of the seraglio for the throne, confirmed AU 
Pasha in all his honours and appointments. The situation of 
the Turkish empire was at this period most critical. The plan 
for the seizure of the Ottoman territories is said to have been 
arranged in the personal interviews between the Emperor Joseph 
and the Russian Czarina, during their journey to the Crimea, in 
1787,* and they were carrying on their preparations for open- 
ing the campaign with an attack along the whole line of the 
Turkish frontier in Europe, when the Porte anticipated them in 
the declaration of war. It is stated by M. de Vaudoncourt, that 
Greek officers in the ser\dce of the Emperor, accompanied by 
engineers, had gone over the coasts of Albania, the Morea, and 
the gulfs of Lepanto and Avlona ; that they had made plans of the 
fortified towers of Navarino, Modon, and Patras, and recon- 
noitred the isthmus; that by means of a Greek archbishop, 
whom he had allured to Pesth, and of Greek merchants settled 
at Trieste and Fiume, he had opened communications with all 
parts of Greece ; that he kept up a large number of emissaries 
in Albania, who had extended themselves as far as loannina and 
even Larissa ; that at Ragusa, the Emperor had forty-four ves- 
sels, placed under the name of a merchant, which in a few days 
could be equipped as frigates ; that, in a word, the Austi'ian 
government at that time had neglected nothing to obtain the sup- 
apartments of his palace at Litoritza. But mark the difference ! I once spent 
an hour in that very apartment with Ali's chief physician, waiting for an audi- 
ence. This gentleman, in whose arms the young bey expired, gave me the 
particulars of his death, which was the consequence of a fever : he informed 
me that the vizir was so doatingly fond of the youth, that he could scarcely be 
induced to quit his bed-side, and so inconsolable at his loss, that he had never 
once entered into the room from that time to the present. And this relatioa 
was amply confirmed to me by others." Hughes, vol. ii. p. lOS. 

* Thornton cites a curious passage from the letters of the Prince de Ligne, 
(dated Baktcheserai, June 1, 1787). ' " Leurs majesf^s imperiales se tdtoient 
quelqiiefois sur les pauvres diables de Turcs. Onjeloit qiielqiie propos en se re- 
gardant. Coimne amateur de la belle anliquiie, et d'un peu de nouveautes, je 
parlois de ritahlir les Grecs ; Catherine, de faire rendiire les Lycurgues et les 
Solo?is. Moi, je parlois d'Mcibiade ; mais Joseph II., qui etoii plus pour I'avenir . 
que pour le pass6, etpour le positif que pour le chimere, disoit, Que diable faire 
de Constantinople 9'\ — See also Coxe's Life of Catherine II., vol. iii. p. 291. 



MODERN GREECE. 07 

port of the Greeks, who, in fact, began to consider Joseph 11. as 
their future liberator, and to feel towards him the same attach- 
ment they had always entertained for Russia.* But if ever there 
was any cordial union between the two imperial confederates 
who planned, at tliis time, the overthrow of the Ottoman empire, 
the death of tliat emperor terminated the dangerous alliance. 
The mutual jealousy by which each power was actuated, pre- 
vented their union m any common effort ; and the war was pros- 
ecuted by Austria, as much for the sake of checking or thwart- 
ing its too powerful rival, as with any view to tlie conquest of 
Greece. Thus it was that their united attack on a tottering and 
debilitated empire produced nothing but the capture of Oczakow 
and Belgrade, followed by separate treaties of peace. f By the 
treaty of Yassy, Russia added to her vast dominions only the 
steppe between the Bogh and the Dniester. 

Ali Pasha received orders to join, at the head of his contingent 
of troops, the Turkish army on the banks of the Danube. Ac- 
cording to M. Pouqueville, he had seen only the smoke of the 
German bivouacks, when he re-entered his winter quarters at 
loamiina, bringing home with him, instead of captives, some 
hundreds of Servians and Bulgarians, peaceable subjects of the 
Grand Seignior, whom he formed into two little colonies at Bo- 
nila and Mouchari, in the interior of Epirus. This appears to 
have been in 1789. Whatever were All's "views at tliis time, 
the death of his friend Potemkin, and the unexpected turn of 
affau"s in Europe, appear to have decided him on identifying his 

* " Under the pretence of furnishing Hungary with cultivators, he sought 
to induce Greeks to fix their residence there. He not only favoured the emi- 
gration of whole families, seeking to flee from the oppression of th^ir masters, 
but he also spread decoyers in the most distant provinces of his dominions. 
Another not less efficacious mean was his edict of toleration, issued in 1782. 
He therein formally promised the Greeks who might come to establish them- 
selves within his states, to admit them to all civil and military dignities, ac- 
cording to their merits. A great number of Greeks flocked there from all 
parts. Many formed establishments in Trieste and Fiume ; others were ad- 
mitted into the military service. The Aixhbishop of Patras, Parthenius, who 
had been one of the most ardent in stirring up the Morea in favour of Russia, 
in the year 1770, and who had been obliged to take refuge at St. Petersburg, 
was allured to Pesth, where Joseph made a handsome provision for him, and 
whence he carried on an active correspondence with Greece. In 1782, two 
Albanian captains penetrated to Maina, and entered into negociations with 
that republic, ofiering succour in warlike stores and money, and promising to 
transport field pieces there by a sea conveyance." — Vaudoncourt, pp. 24 — 31. 

t The reduction of Orsova, in April 1790, was the only military event of 
importance that took place on the part of the Austrians after the death of 
.Joseph II. The insurrection in the Low Countries, the transactions on the 
Prussian frontier, and the influence of Great Britain, compelled the Emperor 
to enter into an armistice, and finally to conclude a separate pe.ace with the 
Porte, on the basis of the status quo ante bellum. 

8 



58 MODERN GREECE. 

interests with those of the Porte. But his correspondence with 
Potemkin had got wind, and his enemies at Constantinople 
were endeavouring to make use of the circumstance, to under- 
mine his influence in the divan. Fertile in expedients, he 
found means to counteract these plots, and to allay the coming 
storm ; principally, it is asserted, by the good offices of the 
French minister at the Porte, whose protection he obtained 
through the means of the consul at Prevesa.* 

It does not appear that the long-protracted contest been Ah 
and the little republic of Suli, had any political causes for its 
origin. M. Pouqueville represents the Suliots to have been in- 
stigated to hostilities by Ibrahim, the vizir of Berat, and the agas 
of Thesprotia ; but he seems to think that their minds were in- 
flamed by the flattering statements brought back by the Greek 
deputies froiB St. Petersburgh. It is not, however, at all likely, 
that they would have attempted a rising at so inauspicious a 
crisis, contrary to the express injunctions of the Russian Gov- 
ernment. It may be true, that at Suli, the rebellion was plan- 
ned under Lambro Canziani, that was to have liberated the 
Greeks from the Ottoman yoke ;f and Sottiri may have en- 
deavoured to engage the mountaineers of Epirus in the vision- 
ary plans of a revolution to be undertaken under the faithless 
auspices of Russia. But the Suliots were genuine klephts ; and 
nothing was more inevitable than that their proceedings should 
clash with the official duty and private interests of the dervenji- 
pasha, in which capacity the Vizir of Epirus had most legitiinate 
grounds for waging warfare against them. It seems that the 
first force which was sent out against these mountaineers, was 
defeated with great slaughter, and pursued to the very plain of 
loannina. This is said to have taken place before Ali joined 
the army of the Danube, and must apparently have happened in 
the time of his predecessor. In the spring of 1791, the Suhots, 
who had been for some time quiet, issued from their retreats, 
and ravaged Amphilochia. " Pillaging alike friends and foes," 
says M. Pouqueville, " they carried their imprudence so far as 
to embroil themselves with the chiefs of the armatohs, and even 
with the Turks of Thesprotia. All commercial intercourse was 
interrupted in Lower Albania. The defiles were no longer 
passable without numerous escorts, which were often defeated by 

* Hughes, vol. ii. p. 118 Vaudoncourt, p. 238. The latter tells an im- 
probable story of All's writing to Louis XVI., and receiving from the French 
minister an insulting reply, declining his proposals, on which he turned his 
rage on the French consul at Arta. 

t Hughes, vol. ii. p. 122. Eton, p. 364. 



MODERN GREECE. 59 

tliese audacious mountaineers. They even ventured to spread 
themselves over Pindus, and only withdrew to their own country 
at the approach of winter, at which season the snows render the 
rocky heights of Epirus uninhabitable." It seems pretty clear, 
tliat, in his attempt to restrain and punisli these marauders, Ali was 
supported by the Greek armatolis, whom he is stated to have taken 
into his pay, but who had themselves suffered irom the incursions 
of the klephts. In his first serious expedition against the Suliots, it 
is expressly mentioned, that to the forces of the agas of Chamouri, 
and a corps of auxiliaries furnished by Ibrahim, pasha of Berat, 
were joined the ai'matolis of Agrafa, headed by Demetrius Pa- 
leopoulos, his brotlier-in-law Anagnostis Canavos, and Hyscos 
of Karpenitza. Altogether, the army is stated to have amount- 
ed to 15,000 men.* At the head of this formidable force, Ali 
set out from loamiina on the 1st of July 1792. To conceal his 
designs, he began his march in the direction of Argyro-castro, 
but he had scarcely proceeded twenty miles when he halted and 
encamped. A copy is given by Mr. Hughes of a letter which 
he is said to have sent to Botzari and Tzavella, two of the most 
distinguished Suliot leaders, requesting them to join his army at 
the head of their palikars, and promising them double pay. 
Suspicious, as it should seem, of his real intentions, Tzavella 
only obeyed the summons at the head of seventy palikars. All 
of these were now seized and bound, except one, who escaped 
by swimming the river Kalamas, and gave the alarm at Suli. 
When Ali made his appearance in that district, therefore, he 
found the Suliots fully prepared to give him a warm reception. 
Having ordered Tzavella to be brought before him, the wily 
Pasha now offered him the amplest reward if he would procure 
the submission of the republic, holding out the horrible alterna- 
tive of being flayed alive. Tzavella represented, that his coun- 

* Pouqueville, vol. i. pp. 51, 90. This Demetrius Paleopoulos, a native of 
Karpenitza in ^tolia, is celebrated as a man of distinguished bravery and tal- 
ent. In the heroic age, says M. Pouqueville, he would have been a Theseus. 
As it was, he was only a klepht, till promoted by the Porte to be a vaivode of 
his native district. He had attached himself to Ali as far back as 1786, when 
they met at Triccala, and their fathers are said to have been intimate. On 
the occasion of the Suliot war, this Greek patriot took the lead against the 
klephtic republic. Nicolas Cojani, Boucovallas, Stathos, his son-in-law, Eu- 
thymos Blakavas, Zitros of Olosson, Macry-Athanasios, and Macry-Poulios of 
Greveno, Christakis of Prevesa, and Andriscos, the companion in arms of 
Lambro Canzianis, — are mentioned by Pouqueville as maintaining on this oc- 
casion an armed neutrality. A pretty clear proof that the cause of Suli was 
not then considered as identical with that of Grecian liberty. The number of 
the troops which were sent against Suli, is stated by M. Prevaux, " the histo- 
rian of Suli," at 28,000 men. Mr. Hughes says, "about 10,000, all tried 
Albanian troops." This, all were not. 



60 MODERN GREECE. 

try men would never treat while he remained a prisoner, but he 
offered his son Foto as a hostage, if Ali would let him return to 
Suli, to endeavour to bring about a negociation. . His proposal 
was accepted, and as soon as he had regained the mountains, 
and consulted the other captains, he sent back a letter of defi- 
ance, in which, anticipating the sacrifice of his son, he swears 
to revenge him.* Foto, however, was not put to death, 
but subsequently obtained his liberty. The Pasha now pre- 
pared to attack Suli by force of arms ; but at this crisis, the 
campaign had well nigh been terminated by the death of their 
enemy. A detachment of these brave mountaineers, to the 
number of 200, having learned that Ali was encamped with his 
body-guard at some little distance from the main army, march- 
ed out with the determination to take him alive or dead ; and 
but for the timely information conveyed to Ali by a traitor, they 
would probably have succeeded. Ali, now infuriated to the ut- 
most, put his troops immediately in motion. 

The four villages which formed the principal seats of this mar- 
tial clan, occupied a sort of natural citadel in the heart of the 
Cassopa^an mountains, consisting of a small plain about 2000 
feet above the bed of the Acheron : a grand natural breast-work 
descends precipitously to the river, while behind towers a lofty 
range of mountains. " The Acheron (Kalamas) after passing 
through the valley of Dervitziana, fi,rst enters this chasm at the 
gorge of Skouitias, so called from a small village of that name. 
A narrow path, which winds through the dark woods on the right 
bank, conducts the traveller in about two hours to a narrow cut 
across his path, called Klissura, admirably adapted to stop the 
progress of an enemy. This defile was commanded by a fort 
called Tichos, and near it was the first Suliot village, called Ava- 
rico. From this point, a gradual ascent leads to the deserted 
site of Samoniva, thence to Kiafla (a word signifying a height), 
and lastly to Kako-Suli, the capital of the republic. Near the 
spot where the mountain-path leaves the side of the Acheron, to 
wind up the precipices between Kiaffa and Kako-Suli, a conical 
hill overhangs the road, called Kunghi, on which stood the largest 
of the Suliot fortresses, named Aghia Paraskevi (Saint Friday. )f 
At this point, another small river, flowing from the Parami- 
thian mountains, joins the Acheron, which, descending the ro- 
mantic defile of Glyki, enters the great Parraithian plain, and 

* Hughes, vol. ii. p. 130. Pouqueville, vol. i. p. 99. 

t Paraskeve and Kuriake (Friday and Saturday) are among the common 
names given to Greek girls. 



MODERN GREECE. 61 

empties itself, after flowing through the Acherusian lake, into the 
Ionian Sea, near the ancient city of Cichyrus or Ephyre."* 

The Suliots, being obliged to retreat before superior numbers, 
were closely pursued by All's forces do^vn tlie valley of the Ach- 
eron, but, at the pass of Klissura, they made a stand. And here 
the Albanian troops were assailed by such volleys of musketry 
from the fortress of Tichos, and from behind the rocks which 
form the defile, tliat the passage became nearly choked up with 
the slain. The ammunition of the Suliots at length beginning to 
fail, they were compelled to retire towards KiafFa. This also 
was soon found to be untenable, and, followed by the Pasha's 
army, they retreated towards Kako-Suli. The great fort of 
Aghia Paraskevi, which commands the Tripa, a deep chasm 
between KiafFa and the capital, was at this time so thinly garrison- 
ed, diat Suli would have been lost but for an act of female valour, 
wliich well deserves comparison with that of Telesilla and her 
Ai'gives. " The heroine Mosco, (the ^vife of Tzavellas,) arming 
all her female warriors, rushed out of the town sword in hand, 
stopped the retreat of husbands and brethren, headed them in a 
valiant attack upon the assailants, now breathless from their pur- 
suit of the fugitives up these steep acclivities, and in a moment 
turned the tide of war. The Albanians in their turn retreated 
aird fled ; the garrison of Paraskevi, reinforced by a number of 
fugitives, made a sally to increase their confusion ; heaps of 
stones were rolled down upon the flying foe, who were again in- 
tercepted at the fort of Tichos, and almost anniliilated. Hun- 
dreds of dead bodies were rolled into the bed of the Acheron, 
whose torrent was encumbered with the slain. 

" Arrived at tliis tower, Mosco discovered the body of her fa- 
vourite nephew, who had been killed in the first attack on this 
position. Animated with a desire of vengeance at the sight, she 
kissed the pale lips of the corpse, and calling on the Suliots to 
follow, she led them, like a tigress bereft of her whelps, against 
those troops who remained about the Pasha in the upper regions 
of the valley. Terrified by the fate of their companions, these 
took immediately to flight, and were pursued by the victorious 
Suliots as far as the village of Vareatis, within seven hours of 
loamiina : they lost aU their baggage, ammunition and arms, 
which were thrown away in the flight, besides an immense num- 

* Hughes, vol. ii. p. 121. The name of Suli is probably a corruption of the 
ancient Selli ; (Homer, Iliad, lib. xvi. 233,) but no vestiges of any ancient 
cities have been discovered within the district of the Suliotes. The distance 
of Suli from Joannina is 14 hours ; from Prevesa, 13 ; from Arta, 14 ; from 
Parga, 8 ; from Margarita, 6 ; from Paramithia, 8. 



62 MODERN GREECE. 

ber of prisoners, whose ransom served to enrich the conquerors. 
Ali liimself killed two horses in liis precipitate escape, and when 
he arrived at his capital, he shut himself up in his harem for sev-, 
eral days. About 6000 men are said so have been slain and 
taken prisoners : the remainder having been dispersed over the 
woods and mountains, did not collect together at loannina for sev- 
eral weeks. This battle occurred July 20, 1792."* 

Ali now saw that the conquest of SuH must be given up for the 
present, and he is said to have made peace on most degrad- 
ing terms, ceding to them possession of their acquired territory as 
far as Devitziana, and paying a large sum as ransom for his cap- 
tive troops, besides restoring the palikars whom he had trepanned, 
and Foto Tzavella among the rest. 

During the ensuing four or five years, Ali appears to have 
kept quiet, directing his attention to the improvement of his cap- 
ital, the construction of roads for the facilitating of internal com- 
merce, and the extirpation of the robbers who infested all parts 
of the country. His subjects had to complain of his oppressive 
avanias ; but it seems to be admitted, that, at this period, he did 
not display that severity of character which subsequently broke 
out into so many acts of wanton cruelty ; and his despotism was 
on the whole a beneficent one to. the country. In the meantime, 
French revolutionists were busy about Ali, flattering him with 
the hope of being enabled to throw off the yoke of obedience to 
the Porte, and to assume the independent sovereignty of Epirus ; 
and when, in 1797, he saw the Venetians driven from the Ionian 
Islands and their continental dependencies, in pursuance of the 
treaty of Campo Formio, and the French flag waving on the 
shores of Epirus, he eagerly entered into secret negotiations with 
General Bonaparte, then at the head of his victorious army in 
Italy. The benefits which he drew from this alliance were sub- 
stantial and immediate. He gained permission to sail with his 
flotilla through the channel of Corfu, in spite of former treaties; 
and he surprised and captured the two independent towns of Ag- 
hio Vasili and Nivitza, on the coast opposite to that island, mas- 
sacring the inhabitants in church one Easter Sunday, while en- 
gaged in divine service. Soon after this, he took possession of 
die important fishery at Santa Quaranta, as well as of the excel- 
lent harbour of Porto Palermo, where he built a large fort, thus 
drawing a cordon round the pashalik of Delvino. His agents at 

* Hughes, vol. ii.-p. 132. M. Pouqueville says, that Ali escaped in disguise, 
having exchanged clothes with Paleopoulos ; and that the greater part of 
those who rallied round him were armatolis, who had formed his body-guard: 
those who perished in the defile, were chiefly Moslems. 



MODERN GREECE. Co 

Constantinople made a merit of these acts, by representing them 
as done solely for the advantage of the Porte and the subjugation 
of infidels, which Ali did not fail to confirm by paying tribute for 
every place he conquered. Still further to raise his credit at 
Constantinople, he headed his contingent of Albanian troops, and 
joined the Grand Vizir in his campaign against the rebel pasha 
of Widin, Paswan Oglou.* He was engaged in this expedition 
when he received intelligence of the invasion of Egypt by the 
French, and the approaching rupture between France and Tur- 
key. Foreseeing that the Ionian Islands would probably again 
change hands, he hastened back to loannina, leaving his son 
Mouktar in command of his troops, that he might be in readiness 
to avail himself of any events that might be converted to his own 
advantage. In fact, he did not wait long before he commenced 
operations by seizing on Prevesa, the strongest and most impor- 
tant of all the ex- Venetian possessions on the continent. The 
alleged detention of one of his brigs sailing into the Gulf of Arta, 
was made the pretext for attacking his former allies. The un- 
fortunate Prevesans had scarcely time to send their families and 
moveable property to the neighbouring islands ; and many, dis- 
crediting the report of the Pasha's approach, neglected that pre- 
caution. The place was ill prepared to make any defence. 
The French garrison capitulated after a short resistance, and the 
Prevesans being easily routed, their city was given up to pillage. f 
Vonitza, Gomeiiitza, and Bucintro subsequently fell into his hands, 
and Parga and Santa Maura narrowly escaped ; the former, 
through the determined conduct and bravery of the inhabitants,, 
the latter through the timely interposition of a Greek captain in 
the Russian service, who arrived off the island just in time to 
intercept All's flotilla. No failure in his schemes, it is said, ever 
annoyed him so much as this disappointment. 

In March 1800, a treaty was concluded between Russia and 
Turkey, by which the independence of the Seven Islands was 
guaranteed under protection of the former power, upon payment 

* An anecdote, highly characteristic, is related of him at this period. The 
gi'and vizir, under pretence of bestowing public approbation upon his conduct, 
requested his attendance in full divan. Ali, conscious how much more he 
merited the bow-string than half the victims who had been honom-ed with that 
Turkish martyrdom, went, but had the precaution to surround the vizir's tent 
with 6000 of his Albanians. As might be expected, his reception was courte- 
ous, but the conference was short 

t The bishop of Prevesa, is said to have been an active agent in forming a 
party at Prevesa in favour of Ali ; but, disgusted with his atrocious cruelties,, 
he afterwards deserted him. Upwards of 300 Prevesans are stated to have 
feeen massacred, by All's orders, in cold blood. 



64 MODERN GREECE. 

of ail annual tribute of 75,000 piastres to the Porte : the conti- 
nental' dependencies were all annexed to the dominions of the 
Sultan, except Parga, which resolutely maintained its independ- 
ence. When the Russian forces had retired, Ali, unwilling to 
abandon his project, still indulged the hope of being able to seize 
on Corfu and Santa Maura, the possession of which would have 
consolidated his power on the adjacent part of the continent. 
Under pretext of sustaining the pretensions of the nobility, he 
excited the first commotions that broke out in those islands, of 
which he availed himself to represent to the Divan, that the only 
means of restoring tranquillity, would be to allow him to garrison 
Corfu, Parga, and Santa Maura. His representations and his 
gold would probably have prevailed at Constantinople, had not 
the Ionian senate defeated his intrigues by throwing themselves 
into the arms of Russia. This measure, which overturned all 
his projects, did not fail to increase his jealousy against that 
power, and he was thenceforth its implacable enemy. Anxious 
to extend his foreign relations, he now availed himself of the 
appearance of a British squadron in the Ionian Sea, to open a 
correspondence with the admiral ; but it does not appear that his 
negotiations led at this time to any definite result, and he soon 
reverted to his French connexions. 

It was some compensation for the disappointment of his 
schemes, that the ambitious Vizir now received the public 
thanks of the Sultan for his eminent services, together with a 
present of the kelick-caftan (a fine ermine pelisse) and a sword 
decorated with brilliants. To complete his elevation, he was 
made Rumelie-valisee or viceroy of Romelia. Bound by the 
duties of his office to visit the provinces confided to his jurisdic- 
tion, he did not fail to turn to good account the discharge, of tliis 
obligation. Being charged to collect the arrears of contributions 
due to the imperial treasury, as well in money as in kind, he in- 
creased them, it is said, in the proportion of three to five, 
reserving two-fifths as his per-centage for the trouble of collect- 
ing. He took up his residence for some time at Monastir, a 
large town about a day's journey west of the lake of Ochrida, 
which he pillaged in the most shameless manner, carrying away 
nineteen wagons laden with valuable effects. It is calculated 
that, besides money and other articles, 20,000 sheep were, by 
this visitation, added to his property ; and the sum total of the 
exactions wrested from these provinces has been esthnated at 
10,000,000 of piastres. 

The victory of Austerlitz and the peace of Presburg, by 
which Dalmatia and Illyricum were annexed to the kingdom of 



MODERN GREECE. 65 

Italy, recalled the attention of Ali towards France. As Russia 
still continued in hostility with Napoleon, and had just seized on 
Cattaro, Ali thought that a favourable opportunity was now 
afforded for attacking that power in the Ionian Islands. He 
accordingly sent a secret agent to Bonaparte, to solicit that a 
French consul might be sent to reside at his capital ; and M. 
Pouqueville was selected for the office, with the tide of consul- 
general, while liis brother was appointed vice-consul under him 
at Prevesa. The French minister at the Porte at this time 
governed the divan. Through his interest, Ali procured the 
pashalik of Lepanto for his elder son, Mouktar, and for Veli, 
his younger son, that of the Morea. In return, he assisted 
Stbastiani in promoting the rupture between Turkey and Russia. 
Hostilities having commenced, he engaged to push the war so 
vigorously against the Russians in the islands, that they should 
be unable to annoy the French army in Dalmatia, provided that 
he were supplied with artillery and engineers. At the com- 
mencement of 1807, he appeared to be on the point of obtain- 
ing die object of his wishes. Fifty artillery men, several offi- 
cers, together with ordnance and military stores, were sent out 
to liim in a gunboat and a corvette from the kingdom of Naples, 
while Colonel Vaudoncourt, a skilful engineer sent out by Mar- 
shal Marmont, remained with Ali to superintend operations. 
Under his du-ection, additional works were tlii'own up round 
loannina, Prevesa was fortified, and the siege of Santa Maura 
was begun. Notwithstanding a well-timed diversion promoted 
by the Russians, who excited a general insurrection of the Tza- 
mouriots and Paramithians, it was prosecuted with vigour. The 
explosion of a powder-magazine having dismantled one of the 
forts, a landing-point was left uncovered, and orders were given 
to construct a sufficient number of flat-bottom.ed boats to turn it 
to advantage. Indeed, every thing was ready for the arrival of 
a corps of 10,000 Albanians, when the peace of Tilsit most 
opportunely put a stop to hostilities. Ali would fain have prose- 
cuted his operations ; but the French officers refused to consent, 
and Santa Maura was saved. Napoleon was sufficiently informed 
that all Ali's selfish views centered in the occupation of the 
Septinsular republic, and Mehemet Effendi, an Italian renegade 
despatched by Ali to the emperor, used every exertion to obtain 
a promise from Napoleon, that at least Santa Maura and Parga 
should be ceded to his master. The integrity of the Ionian 
Republic was, however, one of the bases of the negotiations 
resolved upon at Tilsit, and his agent could accomplish nothing. 
9 



66 MODERN GREECE. 

Parga, of which he endeavoured to gain possession, placed itself 
under the protection of the Ionian Government. 

As soon as Ali saw the islands occupied by French troops, 
his friendship with Napoleon was at an end. He now again 
turned to England, and requested that an accredited agent might 
be sent out to him from this country. In the autumn of 1808, 
a British agent had a secret conference with the Vizir at Pre- 
vesa, at which the plan of operations was concerted. Ali en- 
gaged to second, by all his influence, the attempts of Sir A. 
Paget to bring about a peace between Turkey and Great Bri- 
tain ; and to him it is stated to have been entirely owing, that 
the point was carried. At that moment, the insurrection of the 
janissaries and the death of the Grand Vizir had thrown every 
thing at Constantinople into such confusion, that Mr. Adair was 
about to quit his station in despair, when Ali wrote to him to 
urge his remaining to wait the event. So important, indeed, 
were his services deemed by the British cabinet, that, by way of 
acknowledgment, a very fine park of artillery, with several 
hundreds of the then newly-invented Congreve's rockets, were 
sent him on board a transport, while Major Leake, who had the 
care of the artillery, was ordered to remain to teach his Alba- 
nian troops the use of it, and to act as English resident. The 
expulsion of the French from Zante, Cephalonia, Ithaca and 
Cerigo, and the occupation of those islands by the English in 
the autumn of 1809, confirmed his determination openly to 
espouse the interests of Great Britain. He now opened his 
ports to our merchants and cruisers, and granted supplies, on 
most liberal terms, for our navy and the army in the Spanish 
Peninsula. By this means, he secured a powerful ally against 
the hour of need ; and when, in 1813, the Divan, instigated by 
Andreossy, the French minister at the Porte, had, as it appears, 
well nigh determined on his destruction, the representations of 
the British ambassador had no small influence in averting the 
storm from the dominion of so useful an ally.* 

We must now go back a little, to give the sequel of the histo- 
ry of Suli. On his return to loannina, after his expedition to 
Romelia in 1800-1, Ali determined to recommence operations 

* M. Pouqueville asserts, that Ali actually received orders to quit loannina, 
and to retire to Tepeleni ; and he gives a long- conversation which he alleges 
to have passed between the Vizir and himself on the occasion of his departure. 
The French had then just entered Moscow. But no sooner had the tragical 
twenty-ninth bulletin of the grand army spread through Greece the news of 
Napoleon's disasters, than Ali returned to loannina. " A son atiitvde, on aurait 
imaging qu' il avail aussi triompM de ces armies vamcus par le climat." vol. i, 
p. 395. 



MODERN GREECE. 67 

against this little republic, to which he was more particularly 
incited by its intiiuate connexion with Parga and Corfu. Bot- 
zai'i, one of the most distinguished leaders, had been, in the 
mean tune, bought over to his interests, and the Pasha was led 
to believe that Suli would surrender on the first attack. He 
was, however, woiully mistaken. Foto Tzavella survived, and 
together with the Amazon JMosco, a martial calayer or monk, 
named Samuel, of wild, enthusiastic character, and some other 
leaders of kindred spirit, still defied his power. All took the 
field with about 18,000 men : the number of Suliot palikars 
never exceeded at any time 3000.* But numbers, far from 
being of avail in such a field of action, only served to create 
confusion and embai'rassmcut. The Albanian troops, on en- 
deavouring to penetrate the defile of Glyki, were overwhelmed 
with huge stones poured down from the overhanging precipices, 
and with A'oUeys of musket-balls from unseen marksmen. Foto 
Tzavella, at the head of about 200 chosen palikars, is stated to 
have routed with great slaughter a detachment of 3000 Alba- 
nians, while his own loss did not exceed twenty men. The 
total loss, in killed and prisoners, on the part of Ali, in various 
successive attacks, exceeded in numbers the sum total of the 
Suliot army. Botzari was himself repulsed in a treacherous 
attempt to lead a party over the mountain of Raithovuni ; and 
his death, a few months after, was supposed to be the effect either 
of chagrin or of poison administered by his own hand. 

Despairing to subdue such valiant and determined enemies in 
open warfare, Ali turned the siege into a blockade, resolving to 
trust to famine and treachery. But his troops began to desert ; 
and while the Suliots, according to a Parghiot historian, lost in 
nine months but twenty-five men, Ali lost, by defection and in 
various skirmishes within the same period, nearly 4000. In the 
desperate emergency to which the besieged were sometimes 
reduced, many stratagems were resorted to for procuring provi- 
sions, among which the contrivance of Gianni Striviniotti deserves 
particular mention. " Tliis man, having received intelligence 
that the Turks had lately procured a large supply of cattle from 

* Before their first war with Ali Pasha, the Suliots possessed sixty-six vil- 
lages, " all conquered by their arms ;" but the republic consisted of the four 
stations, Kako-Suli, containing 425 families ; Kiaffa, 60 ; Avarico, 55 ; and 
Samoniva, 30 ; total 570. The settlement is said to have originated with a 
few goatherds about the middle of the seventeenth century. In the notes to 
Sheridan's Songs of Greece, among which will be found several relating to 
Suli, it is stated that the Suliots never reckoned more than 1,500, and seidom 
above 1000 muskets. The population is set down at 5000 souls. But little 
dependence can be placed on Greek statements. 



68 MODERN GREECE. 

the neighbouring pastures, dressed himself in his white capote 
and caraise, and concealing himself till the shades of evening 
had descended, walked out on all fours from his lurking place, 
and mingling with the herds, entered together with them into 
the stalls where they were shut up. In the dead of the night 
he arose silently, opened the doors, unloosed the oxen, and drove 
them towards a party of his friends who were in waiting to re- 
ceive them. The Albanians heard the noise, but were so alarmed 
by suspicion of an ambuscade, that they lay still, and preferred 
the loss of their cattle to the danger of their lives." 

About this time, Ali was called off by orders from the Porte 
to lead his contingent against Paswan Oglou, and the Suliots 
availed themselves of his absence to lay in stores both of provi- 
sions and arms. On his return, he again had recourse to a false 
and treacherous proposal of peace, on the conditions of being 
allowed to build and garrison one tower within their district, and 
of their banishing the brave Foto Tzavella from the Suliot ter- 
ritory, as the chief impediment in the way of tranquillity. It 
does not appear that the former condition was complied with ; 
and yet, the folly and infatuation which a compliance with it 
would have displayed, would not have been greater than the Sul- 
iots were actually guilty of in " requesting the secession" of their 
bravest captain, whose highest panegyric was conveyed by the 
insulting proposal. Ali's ambassadors on this occasion were, as 
usual, two traitors who had deserted their country's cause ; and 
by dint of threats and promises, they prevailed. Foto, on find- 
ing himself forsaken by his deluded followers, set fire to his 
dwelling, declaring that no enemy of Suli should ever cross 
the dwelling of the Tzavellas ; he then buried his sword, -and 
left his countrymen " much in the same state," remarks Mr. 
Hughes, " as the silly sheep who were persuaded by the wolves 
to dismiss their guardians." After this act of folly and baseness, 
one really feels a diminished interest in the fate of the republic. 

Whether a peace was or was not nominally concluded, or 
whether the Suliots were still in a state of blockade, is not very 
clear ; but in May 1 803, the Suliots made a vigorous attack upon 
an Albanian fortress at Villa, which served as the principal maga- 
zine for Ali's army. This they succeeded in taking, and de- 
stroyed by fire and sword nearly the whole garrison. So daring 
an achievement could not but inflame their implacable enemy to 
the utmost height of fury. He issued proclamations, calling 
upon every Mahommedan throughout his dominions to avenge 
this slaughter upon the heads of the infidels, and an immense army 
was again brought into the field against this small band of moun- 



MODERN GREECE. 69 

taineei's. Treachery opened to the invaders the otherwise im- 
penetrable passes, and the Suliols, worn down at length by war 
and famine, and strictly blockaded, were reduced to the necessi- 
ty of accepting terms of capitulation, which Ali never meant to 
fulfill. The treaty was ratified on the 12th of December, 1803, 
by which the whole population was to be allowed to emigrate and 
settle wherever they might please. Men, women, and children 
being gathered together, they separated into two bodies ; one 
taking the direction of Parga, the other that of Prevesa. Both 
parties were waylaid by the troops of the perfidious tyrant : 
the former fought their way through, but the latter all eventually 
perished. A party of about a hundred women and children, 
being cut off from the rest, fled, it is stated, to a steep precipice 
near the monastery of Zalongo ; there, the children were first 
throvvn over the rocks by their mothers, and then the matrons, 
joining hand in hand, and raising their minds to the highest pitch 
of enthusiasm by native songs, whirled round and round in 
a species of fi-antic dance till they approached the edge of the 
cliff, from which they one and all threw themselves headlong. 
Another small detachment, having been taken captive, was sub- 
sequently released and allowed by Ali to settle at Vurgareli at 
tlie foot of Alount Tzumerka ; but this was only a treacherous 
respite : they were afterwards extirpated by a detachment of Al- 
banians, except a few that escaped into Acarnania. The scat- 
tered remnant of the tribe took refuge, some at Santa Maura, 
others with the Albanian beys ; but the greater part retired to 
Parga and Corfu, to subsist on charity, or to enrol themselves in 
the service of their protectors. A number of them subsequently 
entered into the Russian service, and formed a regiment in the 
Albanian battalion. After the peace of Tilsit, this corps passed 
into the service of the French under Colonel Minot. Foto 
Tzavella and Mosco, his raother, both held commissions for some 
time, but resigned them from disgust at ill-treatment. The for- 
mer passed over to loannina, threw himself at the feet of the de- 
stroyer of his country, and was received into his service- Mos- 
co, who accompanied him, married a second husband, and was 
living in the capital at the time of Mr. Hughes's visit. Theii- na- 
tive mountains then formed the strongest post in their conqueror's 
dominions, and a splendid fortified serai adorned the highest top 
•of Kiaffa as a monument of his base triumph. 

The liistory of Ali Pasha now becomes interwoven with a 
complicated series of intrigues and counterintrigues on the part 
of Russian, French, and English agents, which it is very difficult 
to develop. M. Pouque\ille admits, that Ibrahim Pasha of 



70 MODEKN GREECE* 

Berat had written to the French Government, entreating to be 
taken under its protection, and offering the exclusive commerce 
of the port of Avlona, as well as proposing to admit some French 
artillery-men into that fortress. The expedition of Ali against 
Berat, was not undertaken, therefore, without a plausible pre- 
text. The vizir of loannina had good reason to dread the machi- 
nations of the French in that quarter ; and notwithstanding M. 
-Pouqueville's pathetic and sentimental exclamations against the 
cruel treatment of the venerable Ibrahim, who, as being in the 
French interest, must needs have been one of the very best of 
men, there can be no doubt that, had not Ali seized upon Berat, 
his own dominions would soon have been invaded from that quar- 
ter.* The citadel of that town, planted on a lofty hill on the 
right bank of the Apsus, had hitherto been deemed impregnable ; 
but so effectively plied were the newly-invented rockets under the 
direction of the English engineer officer (Major Leake), that 
Ibrahim was obliged to capitulate upon condition of retiring 
with all his suite and treasure to Avlona. " Ali, in his carriage," 
(we borrow the account from Mr. Hughes,) " surrounded by 
his troops, waited on the left bank of the river till Ibrahim had 
passed over the bridge ; he then entered and took possession of 
Berat, not only without the sanction, but even without the knowl- 
edge of the Porte. He thought it proper, however, to send a 
despatch to Constantinople, informing his sovereign, that a great 
part of Upper Albania being in a state of revolt, and Ibrahim 
Pasha being not only incapable, by reason of his age and other infir- 
mities, to restore order, but lying under strong suspicions from Ins 
attachment, first to the Russians, and lately to the French, he had 
deemed proper to secure this important fortress with troops that 
could be relied on. He also sent very large sums of money to 
be distributed among the members of the Divan, and thus pro- 

* " Tignore de quel artifice son verjide aniagoniste se servit, pour le porter d, 
s'adresser au gouvernement Frangais, qu'ilpriait de le prendre sous sa protection, 
parceque le divan I'abandonnait a un ennemi qui 6iait vendu au ministire Briian- 
nique." — PouciUEViLLi:, torn. 1. p. 310. It is impossible to read this Writer's 
highly-embellished narrative, without being continually disgusted with his 
gross unfairness, or without the suspicion that he has drawn very largely on 
his invention. " His main design," as Mr. Leake justly remarks, " appears to 
have been, as a true disciple of the Napoleon school, to throw blame and 
odium upon England avid Englishmen." The British Septinsular government, 
he politely entitles the '"Pandemonium of Corcyra ;" and he is indignant that 
the ashes of Nelson should repose at Westminster, (a specimen of his accurate 
information,) chiefly because he addressed a complimentary letter to " the 
hero of Epirus," and fell in love with Lady Hamilton. This high-toned mo- 
rality disappears, however, from his pages, when the English are not the 
objects of his virtuous animadversions ; and he dispenses the crown of mar- 
tyrdom on all the victims of All's tyranny with more than catholic liberality. 



MODERN GREECS. 71 

cured, not only pardon, but approbation from the Sultan, who 
yielded immediately to his request of conferring the government 
upon his son Mouktar. The three tails, however, were not 
taken, as is usual on losing a pashalik, from Ibrahim, whose 
chiu-acter was held in high estimation both at Constantinople and 
in his own dominions. 

" This success threw into the hands of Ali, not only the 
strongest fortress, but the finest province of Upper Albania ; 
for the great plain of Musakia is the very granary of the coun- 
try. He at first used his victory with great moderation, lest the 
people, if persecuted, should join the standard of their former 
chief. Leaving this new acquisition in the hands of his faithful 
follower, Usuff Araps, Ali returned speedily to his capital, to 
take every advantage of the success of the British in the Ionian 
Sea. During the bombardment of Santa Maura by our troops, 
he encamped opposite that island with a large force, anxious to 
find some opportunity of mingling in the affray, and urging his 
own claims to the occupation of the island. These he pressec^ 
vehemently after its surrender, but, being unable to substantiate 
them, he deceived our commanders by cunningly gaining per- 
mission to build barracks for his soldiers ; instead of which he 
threw up two strong fortresses, each commanding an entrance 
into the Dioryctos or channel, and one of them even the castle 
of Santa Maura. 

" But, though Ali could neither gain from his British allies the 
possession of Santa Maura, nor persuade them at this time to 
drive the French out of Parga, that he might himself occupy 
that fortress, he did not think it his interest to shew any sign of 
ill-humour at present : he still had a great game to play, in 
wliich no ally could afford him such material assistance as 
England. He was placed in a most advantageous position be- 
tween the great rival powers, and he was determined to make 
the most of it. Five of the islands were under the protection 
of the British, and two under that of the French ; the former 
courting his assistance, the latter dreading his enmity. In this 
conjuncture of circumstances, he played his cards admirably. 
He encouraged us to blockade Corfu, under promise of co- 
operation, while he took advantage of its distress to introduce 
provisions secretly for his own gain and profit,* Forging letters 

* " II m'aida igalement, en Its irompant (the English), d, procurer des ap- 
provisionnements, des signaux de reconnaissance aux assieges ; et il offrit meme, 
sije voulais engager noire general d 6vacuer la. citadelle, de Voccuper et defaire 
cause commune avec nous contre les Jlnglais." — Pouqueville, torn. i. p. 321. 
The French Consul claims great merit for rejecting these proposals, and for 
permitting things to take their course. The fact is, that the French would 



73 MODERN GREECE. 

of correspondence between the French generals and Ibrahim 
Pasha, or the rulers of other states upon the coast of the Adri- 
atic,* he very easily procured the assistance of our naval com- 
manders in all his enterprises ; while those hardy and warlike 
tribes who had hitherto resisted his aggressions, because their 
own valour had been seconded by the powers which possessed the 
Ionian Isles, finding their succours thence cut off, and their 
offers of devotion rejected, were obliged to surrender uncon- 
ditionally to his arras, or run the chance of extermination. The 
Chimarriots, descendants of the ancient Chaonians, and the 
bravest people of Epirus, whose very trade was war, defended 
their rugged mountains to the last extremity, fighting sword in 
hand with very little intermission for three successive days, after 
they had expended all their ammunition. Ali, however, had 
gained possession of their principal village, called J^ouno, by his 
old art of bribery, and falling upon the rear of these warriors, 
cut the greater part of them to pieces. The country then sur- 
rendered, and the Vizir, having garrisoned its strong holds, car- 
ried to loannina 250 hostages for the peaceable conduct of the 
inhabitants. 

"In 1810, Ali escaped the greatest danger with which he 
had hitherto been threatened. This was nothing less than a 
plan of operations concerted between the French generals, and 
sanctioned by the Porte, to attack him by a force from the island of 
Corfu, and at the same time by a, large corps under Marshal 
Marmont from Dalmatia. Nothing but the success of the Brit- 
ish armies in Spain, which called Marmont's army to that 
quarter, preserved Ali from destruction. The French, how- 
ever, never totally gave up the plan, and would have made the 
attempt from Corfu alone but for the intervention of a British 
fleet.f Poor Ibrahim Pasha had been implicated in the forma- 
tion of this enterprise, and was now left alone to resist the at- 
tack of his irritated and powerful adversary. Ali besieged him 

have gained nothing by surrendering- the island to Ali ; and if the crafty vizir 
really made this proposal, he could have entertained no very high opinion of 
the Consul's sagacity. 

* Whether they were forged letters, as Mr. Hughes asserts, may be ques- 
tioned. M. Pouqueville admits, that Ibrahim Pasha had transmitted propo- 
sals to the French Government ; and Mr. Hughes, in the latter branch of this 
same sentence, speaks of an actual correspondence between the Chimarriots 
and the French and Russian authorities in the Ionian Isles. 

t M. Pouqueville takes credit for originating the plan that " was destined 
to rid the earth of one of its most cruel devastators." " Le secret fut promis a 
celui qui vivait sous It glaive de Damocles sans etre assis a son banquet. Les 
moyens demandis ^urent agrees par le sultan, au mois de juillet 1810. Sans 
prdciser le temps ou il les mettrait a execution, la perte d'Mli et de sa race san- 
gui7iairefut erigie en maximepar le sultan." 



MODERN GREEftE. 73 

SO closely in Avlona, while two English frigates blockaded the 
port against the introduction of supplies from the French, that 
Ibrahim fled in disguise, with a few of his principal followers, 
and took refuge in the mountains of Liaberi or Liapuria. There, 
he \\as soon after betrayed, and was conducted by his conquer- 
or in a species of mock triumph to the city of Konitza, whenqe, 
after the lapse of^ year, he was conducted to loannina, and con- 
fined a close prisoner in a solitary tower, where this venerable 
old man, the father-in-law of All's two sons, might be seen like 
a wild beast through the iron bars of his dungeon. 

" The Pasha of Delvino, with the chiefs of Liapuria, Argyro- 
castro, and Gardiki, alarmed at the storm which they saw gath- 
ering round tliem, speedily assembled their forces, which were 
attacked and defeated by Ali in the plains between Argyro-cas- 
tro and Delvino. He then entered and took possession of the 
latter place, making prisoners two sons of Mustafa Pasha, 
whom he sent to loannina, and confined in a convent of the 
island. Two others made their escape to Corfu, where they were 
soon assassinated by an emissary of the Vizir's. Mustafa him- 
self had retired to Gardiki. The great city of Argyro-castro 
next surrendered after a short conflict, upon condition of becom- 
ing a chijlik ; and the whole valley of the Druno, the richest 
and most populous in all Albania, fell entirely under the Vizir's 
dominion."* 

No place now remained for him to conquer, but Gardiki, 
which had first offended him, and upon which he resolved to 
pour the vial of his wrath. This place, the population of which 
was entirely Mohammedan, surmounted a fine conical hill, sur- 
rounded with an amphitheatre of the most splendid mountain 
scenery. ^ Well knowing what they had to expect fi-om the re- 
sentment of their ancient foe, the Gardikiotes prepared for the 
most vigorous defence. For a long time, operations went on 
slowly. All's own generals discovered a reluctance to execute 
his vindictive intentions, upon which he despatched a confi- 
dential officer, at the head of a large body of Greek and Alba- 
nian troops, with instructions to act promptly in combination 
with all the other Greeks in the army. They, he well knew, 
would exterminate a Mohammedan tribe with the greatest 
alacrity ; and as the Turkish generals did not dare interfere, the 
city was soon given up to all the horrors of assault. Very few 
persons escaped. Those who were reserved as prisoners, were 
afterwards, to the number of between seven and eight hundred j 

. * Hughes, vol. is. pp. 187—191. 
10 



74 MODERN GREECE* 

massacred in cold blood in the presence of Ali, their bodies 
being left unburied, to rot upon the place of execution, which 
was a large khan near the commencenaent of the Gardikiote 
territory. The gate-way of the area was then walled up, and 
an inscription placed over it cut in stone, which signifies, " Thus 
perish all the enemies of All's house." It is stated, that every 
individual victim underwent a personal examination by the 
Vizir himself, previously to the order being given for the execu- 
tion, and that some few were in consequence spared, probably on 
its being found that they were unconnected with the old inhabi- 
tants. On the same day, seventy-two Gardikiote beys and 
other prisoners of distinction, who had been conveyed to loan- 
nina, and treated with a delusive show of clemency and respect, 
were all strangled. From the khan, Ali marched to Gardiki 
itself, which he laid in ruins, placing it under an anathema, and 
prohibiting it from ever again becoming the habitation of man. 
The property of its citizens he had already converted to his own 
use ; and as they were great merchants, he is staled to have 
kept an accurate account of all the debts due to them, and to 
have exacted the most punctual payment. " Every Gardikiote 
that was subsequently discovered within the dominions of Ali, 
was arrested and put to death, when his corpse was sent to aug- 
ment the mouldering heaji of his unfortunate countrymen at the 
khan of Valiare. The Vizir was grievously offended with his 
son Veli, who refused to put to death some Gardikiotes in his 
service, or surrender them up." 

This crowning act of atrocity took place on the 15th of March, 
1812. Mustafa, Pasha of Delvino, died soon after in prison at 
loannina, not without suspicion of having been starved to death.* 
A few months after this, Ibraliim Pasha disappeared : it was the 
general belief at loannina, that he too had been put to death, and 
the French consul despatched a courier with the intelligence to 
Constantinople. A capigi-bashee of the highest rank was con- 
sequently sent to loannina, with orders to investigate the affair. 
On his arrival, Ali expressed the greatest astonishment, and di- 
rected the officer of the Porte to be conducted to Ibrahim's 
apartipent, where the object of his visit was found surrounded 
with every comfort, and professing to be perfectly happy in the 
society of his daughters and their children. The capigi-bashee 
was dismissed with magnificent presents, and on his return, gave 
a most favourable report of All's conduct. This attempt to 

* M.Pouqueville states, that his fate was the same as that of Toussaint 
Louverture. In his anxiety to blacken the dark character of Ali, he forgets 
that he was himself at this time the agent of Toussaint's murderer. 



MODERN GREECE. , 76 

draw do\\Ti on him tlie vengeance of the Porte, only turned 
therefore to his advantage ; but Ali was not ignorant of the dan- 
ger to which he had been exposed, or of the quarter in which it 
had originated.* 

In the mean time, the battle of Leipsig had totally changed 
the aspect of political aftairs in Europe, and Ali saw himself on 
the point of being relieved from any dangers arising from French 
influence in the Divan. Foreseeing that the French possessions 
ill the Ionian sea would fall into the hands of the British, he re- 
solved to be before-hand with us in seizing upon Parga, — " that 
single, solitary rock, which alone, throughout the whole extent 
of his dominions, was illuminated by the rays of liberty." 
" Having failed," says Mr. Hughes, " in the alluring tempta- 
tions which he held out to M. Pouqueville and General Denze- 
lot (the commandment at Corfu), he determined upon one of 
those prompt movements which are so habitual to him, and for 
which he had been some time prepared, feeling little doubt that, 
if he should once gain possession of the place, he could find 
means to justify his conduct or to appease resentment. Unauthor- 
ised, then, by his Government, which, at tliis time, was at peace 
with France, and without any declaration of war, he moved an 
overwhelming force against Parga, in the month of February 
1814; at the same time ordering his flotilla to sail from Prevesa 
for the pm'pose of aiding in the siege, ~ and of intercepting all the 
inhabitants that might endeavour to escape to the islands. 
These directions, however, were rendered nugatory by the spirit- 
ed conduct of some English cruisers, who refused to let his 
vessels approach. On the 2Sth of February, All's troops carri- 
ed by assault Aja and Rapesa, two frontier villages of the Par- 
ghiot territory, putting to death many of the inhabitants, and 
sending the remainder into slavery. Here a small fort was 
erected, and the army . advanced upon Parga. The French 
garrison retired into the citadel without any show of resistance, 
the only opposition being made by the bravery of the inhabitants. 
These marched out witli exultation to the defence of their 
country, accompanied by women and children, who handed 
ammunition, and loaded the muskets of their husbands and parents. 
The contest was neither long nor sanguinary ; for the Parghiots, 
having die advantage of ground and shelter, effectually checked 
the Vizir's troops ; especially his cavalry, as they charged up a 

" Mr. Hughes considers the whole to have been a manosuvre of Ali's, hav- 
ing for its object to sound the feelings of the Divan, prior to his venturing on 
the murder of Ibrahim. This does not appear, however, to be ii.ore than a 
probable surmise. If it was so, the French consul was clearly outwitted. 



T6 MODERN GREECE. 

narrow causeway leading to the city, so that they were obliged 
to retreat, after losing several of their companions, among whom 
was a near relation of All's, the commander of the Albanian 
forces.* 

In spite of this victory, the Parghiots had sufficient cause to 
tremble ; and they had additional reason for alarm when they 
discovered that a secret correspondence was carried on between 
their inveterate foe and the commandant of the French garrison. f 
In this dilemma, they despatched a message to Captain Garland, 
who had lately taken possession of the little island of Paxo, re- 
questing to be received under British protection With the 

utmost secrecy, a plan was organized for taking possession of the 
citadel. An English flag, concealed under the girdle of a boy, 
was brought into the fortress without exciting suspicion ; a signal 
was given by ringing a bell to the conspirators, who rushing for- 
ward, disarmed the centinels, seized upon the rest of the garri- 
son, and hoisted the British standard in place of the tri- 
coloured flag. Only one man lost his life in this almost bloodless 
conspiracy : he was a Cefalonian in the French service, and 
commissary of police, who, thrusting his head out of a window, 
with loud exhortations to blow up the magazine, was instantly 
shot. The inhabitants being now in full possession of the place, 
the Hon. Sir Charles Gordon landed with a detachment of British 
troops, sent off" the French garrison, under terms of capitulation, 
to Corfu, and took possession of the place on the 22d of March, 
1814. 

" Under the powerful segis of Great Britain, Parga remained 
for about three years comparatively happy, increasing both in 
wealth and population, although the mention of its name was 
omitted in the treaties of Vienna and Paris, which consigned to 
English protection the Septinsular Republic But Ali Pa- 
sha's ambitious mind could not rest quietly when disappointed in 
a design which lay nearest his heart ; and liis gold proved in this, 
as in many other instances, all powerful at Constantinople. Par- 
ga was demanded by the Porte as the price of her acquiescence 
in our occupation of the Ionian Isles ; and a secret treaty con- 
signed over to Mohammedan despotism the last little spot of 
ancient Greece that had remained unpolluted by her infidel con- 
querors. An article, however, was inserted in tliis treaty, which 
provided that every person who emigrated should be remunera- 
ted for the loss of his property."! 

* Athanasius Macrys. ^ 

t M. Pouqueville pretends, that Colonel Nicole had not been in correspond- 
ence with Ali, but his own statement makes against him. 
t Hughes, vol. ii. pp. 200 — 204. We have purposely refrained from going 



MODERN GREECE. 77 

On the 10th of May, 1S19, the unfortunate inhabitants re- 
soh^ed not to live under Turkish despotism, prepared to evacu- 
ate their native soil ; and when Ali Pasha reached the walls, he 
found the city silent and deserted. The whole population had 
embarked, voluntary exiles, for the Ionian Isles. Still, he ex- 
uhed over the barren conquest, which made him the master of 
continental Greece " from the Attic boundary of Parnes to the 
rugged mountains of Illyricum." 

But the career of this modern Herod was now drawing to a 
close.* The accidental destruction of his palace at Tepeleni 
by fire, is stated to have led to the discovery of the immense 
wealth concealed witliin its walls, exaggerated accounts of wliich 
reaching the ears of the Sultan Malimoud, excited the cupidity, 
while it offended tlie pride of that monarch. Ali, hovv'ever, 
might yet have been permitted to die in his bed, and the Porte 
woidd have been contented to become liis heir, had it not 
been for the secret measures taken by iiis implacable enemy, 
Ismael Pacho, whom Ali's emissaries had repeatedly attempted 
to assassinate. Having gained over Khalet EfFendi, who had 
formerly been in the interest of Ali, but whom the avaricious 
Vizh' had imprudently ceased to salary, Pacho resolved to make 
use of his powerful influence in the Divan, to execute his long 
cherished scheme of vengeance against the family of Tepeleni. 
Ali heard with dismay, that the object of his hatred and fear 
was nominated a capigi-hashee ; and the next intelligence was, 
that his son Veli was dismissed from the government of Triccala 
to the p^shalik of Lepanto. It was evident, either that his gold 
had lost its charm at Constantinople, or that it had not been of 
late so liberally distributed as formerly ; and there is some rea- 
son to believe that his avarice paved the way for his downfall. 
It was, however, now too late to intrigue, and Ali resolved to 
intimidate the Divan by one of those bold strokes which he had 
often found to succeed. Two Albanians were despatched to 

into the delicate question relating- to the policy and humanity of ceding Parga 
to the Porte. Mr. Hughes stigmatises the transaction as unjust, cruel, and 
impolitic ; and his account of Sir Thomas Maitland's conduct g-ives almost as 
unfavourable an idea of his character, as the caricature portrait inserted in 
M. Pouqueville's History does of his physiognomy. The statements of Colonel 
de Bosset and the French consul have met with a very insufBcient and equally 
suspicious reply from a party writer in the Quarterly Review, whose illiberal 
aspersions on the Parghiots are disproved by every respectable authority. 
The pretence urged in justification, that Ali Pasha had nothing to do with the 
negotiation, that it was ceded to the Porte, is a paltry subterfuge. 

* In 1819, Ali himself was, according to M. Pouqueville, seventy-eight 
years of age. Of his family, there were living, Mouktar, beglier-bey of Berat, 
aged fifty ; Veli, vizir of Thessaly (Triccala), aged forty-six ; Salik, pasha of 
Lepanto, aged 18. 



78 MODERN GREECE. 

Constantinople with orders to destroy Pacho Bey. The attempt 
was made, but their intended victim escaped ; and one ol the 
culprits being pursued and overtaken, after confessing that they 
had been employed by Ali Pasha, was hung before the gate of 
the imperial seraglio.* The Divan now thought it high time to 
take strong measures ; and in a council specially summoned, the 
sentence oi fermanly was pronounced against the old Pasha, 
by which he was placed under the ban of the empire, unless 
within forty days he should appear at the golden threshold of 
the gate of felicity, to answer to ' the charge of high treason. 
His old enemy, Ismael Pacho Bey, was nominated pasha of 
loannina, and appointed to the command of the expedition that 
was directed to proceed against this too formidable subject. 
And to give the greater effect to these decided measures, a bull 
of excommunication and anathema was issued against Aii by the 
mufti, the primate of Islam. 

These events took place in the month of February, 1820. 
March, however, passed away without the army having been 
put in motion ; and an interval occurred, which might have been 
turned to good account, had Ali possessed talents and energy 
equal to the occasion. But he seems to have halted between a 
desire to be reconciled to the Grand Seignior, and the determi- 
nation to defend his possessions ; and thus divided, he took no 
effectual or decisive steps to accomplish either. His mind does 
not appear to have been enfeebled by age, so much as by avarice 
and distrust, which infallibly attend the last stage of a despot's 
career, neutralising or paralysing the passion of ambition itself. 
All's avarice had raised up his most formidable enemies, and it 
now withheld him from making the sacrifices which might yet 
have propitiated the Divan, or defeated its measures. On the 
other hand, he had reason for distrusting his Mohammedan sub- 
jects, well knowing that their religious scruples would restrain 
them from openly resisting the imperial ^rmaAw, backed as it was 
by the anathema of the mufti. Under these circumstances, 
Ali had no alternative but to call the Armatolis to his aid, and to 
put arms into the hands of the Albanian and Greek Christians, 

* M. Pouqueville tells us, that Ali sent three assassins ; that they all fired at 
Pacho Bey, as he was on his way to the mosque of St. Sophia, but that he was 
only slightly wounded ; and that all thiee were seized in the very act, and 
executed. An anonymous but more credible accotmt, given in a private let- 
ter, states, that the chamberlain was fired at while looking out at his window ; 
that the assassins scampered off at full gallop, and that one only was over- 
taken at a village about sixty miles from Constantinople. In this account, the 
promotion of Pacho Bey, who had previously been sentenced to death, through 
the machinations of Ali, is ascribed to the influence of the viceroy of Egypt, 
to whom he had fled for protection. — See Hughes's Travels, vol. ii. p. 221. 



MODERN GREECE. 79 

with the promise of liberal pay and ample booty. At the same 
time, he despatched emissaries to tlie Montenegrins and Servians, 
to excite them to a simultaneous revolt. It is even said, that he 
dissembled so far as to profess an intention to embrace Chris- 
tianity ; that he talked of emancipating the Greeks as a nation, 
a.'id driving their Ottoman tyrants beyond the Bosphorus. The 
Ai-matolis rose in a mass at his call, and dispersing themselves 
over the mountain roads and defiles, performed with alacrity his 
orders in intercepting all couriers, plundering the caravans, and 
putting a stop to all intercourse with the western provinces. But 
it does not appear that Ali placed much reliance on these guerilla 
bands ; and liis object seems to have been, to intimidate the 
Porte by this manoeuvre, rather than to repel invasion. The 
time had been, when tlie Divan might have been compelled by 
these means to come to some amicable arrangement ; but in vain 
did the primates now represent that Ali alone was capable of 
repressing these disorders : the stratagem, if such it was, did not 
take. The Turkish authorities had recourse, indeed, to a very 
dangerous and impolitic expedient for counteracting these opera- 
tions. Suleyman Pasha, on entering Thessaly as seraskier, ad- 
dressed a proclamation to the ecclesiastics, civil primates, and 
other persons in authority, authorising the people to take up arras 
against Ali. It has been supposed, however, that this measure 
was either an unauthorised act of the Turkish commander, and 
disapproved of by the Porte, or that it was the result of intrigue, 
perfidiously devised by Suleyman's Greek secretary, Anagnostis, 
who issued the proclamation in his own language only. How- 
ever this may have been, or whether Suleyman had really 
entered into any correspondence or not with the rebel Vizir, he 
was suddenly recalled, and, in his way to Constantinople, was 
met at Salonika by the fatal capigi-bashee, who came for his 
head. The pashalik was given to Mohammed Drama Ali, the 
father-in-law of Ismael Pacho. 

And now the war against Ali appears to have been undertaken 
in earnest ; and while Ismael Pacho received orders to hold 
himself in readiness to march on Epirus, a Turkish squadron 
appeared in the Ionian Sea. Elated by some trifling success, 
and deceived by hollow protestations of fidelity and the sem- 
blance of enthusiasm in the people of loannina, Ali appears to 
have been lulled mto a fatal security. Could he have depended 
upon his ti'oops, indeed, his situation would have been by no 
means hopeless. All his fortresses, twenty-five in number, had 
been put into a state of complete defence, and he was amply 
supplied witli warlike stores. But the beys and warlike chief- 



80 MODERN GREECE. 

tains of Albania who might yet have rallied round his standard, 
had been exterminated ; and all faithful Moslems eagerly longed 
to be delivered from the infidel ; while the Greeks, who were 
for the most part little disposed to confide in his professions, 
were again looking to Russia for deliverance, and the despot of 
Epirus was the enemy of Russia. On former occasions, Ali 
had been able to play off the Greeks against the Moslems and 
the Moslems against the Greeks ; and holding the scales between 
contending foreign factions, he had been indebted alternately, 
more perhaps than he was aware, to Russian, French, and Eng- 
lish co-operation, in defeating his enemies. But alike selfish 
and faithless, he had betrayed all his allies by turns ; and left to 
himself, the colossus fell as by his own weight. The armatolis 
of Thessaly submitted to Mohammed Drama Pasha without a 
blow. Veli, at the approach of the Turkish army, abandoned 
Lepanto, and took the road to loannina, sending away his harem 
and all his moveables by sea to Prevesa. Avlona and Berat 
opened their gates to the Pasha of Scutari; and when the 
Capudan-bey, having seized the port of Panormo and the for- 
tresses of Delvino and Butrinto, appeared before Parga, young 
Mehemet Pasha, All's grandson, embarking with about thirty 
followers in a felucca, surrendered at discretion. Finally, as 
soon as Pacho Bey had entered the defiles of Anovlachia, Omer 
Bey Brioni, All's seraskier and favourite general, together with 
his lieutenants, Mantho (who had been one of the Vizir's private 
secretaries) and Alexis Noutza, primate of Zagori, went over, 
with their divisions, to the invading army. Thus Ali, who had 
reckoned upon 17,000 men, suddenly found himself without 
generals and without an army. 

All's means of defence, however, were still formidable, and 
he had prepared for the worst. His castle and vast fortress on 
the lake of loannina were fortified with 250 pieces of cannon, 
and by means of a small squadron of gun-boats, he still com- 
manded the navigation of the lake. Hither, therefore, he now 
retreated with his remaining adherents, while loannina, after 
being pillaged, was set on fire in order to prevent its affording 
shelter to the enemy. The ruins of the capital were yet 
smoking, when Pacho Bey, on the 20th of August, m»de his 
public entry, and set up his three-tail standard as pasha of loan- 
nina and Delvino. From the bastions of his castle, Ali might 
hear the acclamations of the Turks saluting his successor, and 
the cadi reading the sentence of deposition and anathema : a 
brisk fire from the guns and mortars of his fortress was his com- 
ment upon the proceedings. All's garrison was about 8000 



MODERN GREECE. 81 

Strong, all firmly attached to him ; and the castle on the lake 
to which he had retired, was provisioned for four years. The 
Turkish army, on the contrary, had brought neither heavy artil- 
lery nor engineers for commencing the siege in form ; and their 
pronsions had begun rapidly to diminish, exciting symptoms of 
discontent and even mutiny, before mortars and cannon arrived. 
The approach of winter rendered Ismael Pasha's situation still 
more critical. Already the early snows began to cover the sum- 
mits of Pindus, and the different hordes of Macedonia and 
Thessaly had disbanded for the purpose of reaching their homes. 
Discontent soon found its way among the Albanian militia, unac- 
customed to the tardy operations of a siege ; and dissensions 
broke out between the Moslems and the Christians. In order 
to procure fuel, the Turks were obliged to rummage among the 
ruins of the town ; provisions, too, had become scarce, as the 
convoys were generally attacked by the banditti headed by 
Odysseus, who, after a pretended desertion to Ismael, had dis- 
appeared, and collected a band of klephts or armatoles in the 
mountains. The total consumption of their harvests and the 
devastation of their villages, made the inhabitants regret even 
the government of Ali. In the mean time, seditious movements 
in the northern provinces occasioned fresh alarms, and the Ru- 
melie-valisee, Achmet Pasha, received orders to quit Epirus for 
tlie banks of the Danube. More than 5000 bombs had already 
been thrown against the castles of Ali, without producing any 
considerable effect ; and the Sultan, growing impatient, addressed 
a haiti shereef to Ismael Pasha, blaming the inefficiency of his 
plans for reducing the rebel Vizir. 

Ali, in the mean time, greater in adversity than he had ever 
shewn himself in the day of his power, maintained an unshaken 
firmness and tranquillity, and set his enemies at defiance. He 
seemed, indeed, to have triumphed not only over his years, but 
over his passions. When informed that his sons Mouktar and 
Veli, who held the fortresses of Argyro-castro and Prevesa, 
had capitulated to his enemy, on the faith of the deceitful prom- 
ises of the Porte,* he told his followers, that thenceforth the 
brave defenders of his cause were his only children and heirs. 
The aged Ibrahim Pasha and his son, he set at liberty to gratify 
his troops ; and when they next demanded an advance of pay, 
he immediately raised it to about 41. a month, saying, " I never 

* The proposals made were, that Veli should be nominated pasha of Acre, 
and Mouktar and Salik were to be appointed to sanjiakats in Anatolia. Both 
of them subsequently fell by the hand of a capiji bashi, on the very doubtful 
ohai-ffe of holding- a secret correspondence with their father. 

11 



S2 MODERN GREECE. 

haggle with my adopted children : they have shed their blood 
for me, and gold is nothing in comparison with their services." 
Having exact information as to the state of the besieging army, 
he insultingly sent Ismael Pasha some sugar and coffee, and 
even offered to sell him provisions. His communication with 
the interior was secured by the gunboats which still commanded 
the lake ; by this means he was able to obtain better intelligence 
than the seraskier himself, and to disperse his emissaries in all 
dii'ections. So well did they execute their commission, that the 
Suliots entered into the service of their ancient enemy, on con- 
dition of receiving 2000 purses, and being reinstated in their 
strong holds. Joining the armatoles under Odysseus, and 800 
Zagorites under Alexis Noutza, (whose desertion seems also to 
have been a mere feint,) they gave a new character to the con- 
test ; and the winter of 1820 had hardly expired, when Ali 
found himself unexpectedly supported by a general insurrection 
of the Greeks. It is possible, that he might even imagine him- 
self to be the prime mover of a revolt to which he only furnished 
the stimulus of opportunity, and perhaps gave the signal ; and 
he talked of planting the Greek standard upon the walls of 
Adrianople. If this was not mere bravado, the subsequent de- 
feat of the insurgents, by Khourshid Pasha, must have convinced 
him that no Greek army was likely to come to his relief. 

Ismael Pasha had been superseded as seraskier by this gen- 
eral in the spring of 1821, but Khourshid's presence was soon 
required in other quarters, and it was not till November, that he 
re-appeared before loannina with a powerful reinforcement, and 
made preparations to carry the fortresses by storm. In the July 
of this year. All's castle on the lake had taken fire from accident, 
and almost all his magazines had been destroyed. Owing, it 
may be presumed, to this disaster, he began to be straightened 
about December for necessaries. Disease and desertion had 
reduced his garrison to 600 men ; and now his chief engineer, 
a Neapolitan adventurer named Caretto, went over to the enemy, 
and perfidiously instructed the besiegers how to direct the fire of 
the batteries with the greatest effect. The island of the Lake 
was taken towards the close of December, by a small flotilla 
which the Turks had at length fitted out. Treachery opened 
to Khourshid the gates of the fortress of Litaritza soon after 
this ; and " the Old Lion" was at length reduced to take refuge, 
with about sixty resolute adherents, in the citadel, to which he 
had previously transported provisions, all his remaining treasures, 
and a tremendous quantity of gunpowder. The sequel is as 
differently told as every other part of All's eventful story. The 



MODERN GREECE. 83 

following account, given by jMr. Waddington, is stated to be 
derived from the official communication verbally made by the 
Reis Effendi to the first interpreter of the Britannic Embassy, 
for the information of his Excellency Lord Strangford. 

" Kliourshid Pasha, informed of this arrangement, sent his 
silikdar to Ali, to propose to him to surrender at discretion, to 
restore the part of the citadel which he possessed, and to con- 
sign his treasures to that officer ; for such appeared, in the ex- 
tremity to which he was reduced, to be the only rational deter- 
mination which remained for him to adopt. He added, that he 
knew a report had been spread, that Ali had resolved, in case 
he should be tlirown into despair, to set fire to the powder, and 
to blow up himself with his treasures, and all those who sur- 
rounded him ; but that this threat did not frighten him, and that 
if Ali did not decide immediately, he would come liimself and 
apply the torch. Ali Pasha replied to the silikdar, that he was 
well assured that in his situation there was no other choice, and 
that he was determined to surrender as soon as he should be 
assured of his life. 

" The silikdar undertook to carry his answer to his master ; 
and returned soon afterwards to inform him, in the name of 
Khourshid Pasha, that the fulfilment of this request depended 
exclusively on the Sultan ; that the Pasha would willingly give 
him his good offices with his Highness, but that he could not do 
it mth any 'hope of success unless Ali should previously deliver 
up all he possessed ; that he proposed to him consequently to 
effect the surrender of the fort, of the treasures, of the stores, 
&;c. Sic, and to retire and await the arrival of the resolution of 
• the Sultan in the small island on the lake near the citadel. 

" Ali Pasha asked time at first to reflect on the decision which 
he should make ; at last, after several conversations with the 
silikdar, he consented to leave the citadel, and he retired into 
the island with all his little troop, with the exception of one of 
his trusty friends, with whom he agreed on a signal which would 
instruct him v/h ether he was to set fire to the powder, or give 
up all that was intrusted to his care to the officers of KJiourshid 
Pasha. 

" The silikdar received Ali Pasha in the island, at the head 
of an equal number of men Avith that which accompanied the 
Vizir ; they paid him all the honour due to his rank, and after 
having been treated for several days by Kliourshid Pasha with 
the greatest respect, Ali had confidence enough to order the sur- 
render of all that he had left in the citadel. They immediately 
made haste to transport the powder into a place of safety. 



84 MODERN GREECE. 

" Directly aftervvardsj Ali Pasha requested that one of his 
officers who commanded a small party of a hundred men in the 
environs of loannina, might be permitted to join him in the 
island. Khourshid Pasha consented to this, but sent at the 
same time a detachment, composed of an equal number of men, 
to keep All's troops in awe. 

" Different pashas of inferior rank had been several times to 
visit Ali. On the 13th day of the moon Djeraaziul Awwel, (the 
5th of February,) Mohammed Pasha, governor of the Morea, 
offered to procure for Ali every possible comfort, i^aming par- 
ticularly provisions. Ali replied to this offer, that he desired no- 
thing more than a supply of meat ; he added, however, that he 
had still another wish, though his unwillingness to offend the 
scruples of religion forbade him to give utterance to it. Being 
pressed to name it, he owned that it was wine which he wished 
for, and Mohammed Pasha projnised tliat he should receive it. 
The conversation continued for some time in the most friendly 
manner, till, at last, Mohammed Pasha rose to take leave. Being 
of the same rank, they rose at the same moment from the sofa, 
according to the usual ceremony, and before leaving the room, 
Mohammed Pasha bowed profoundly. Ali returned the com- 
pliment, but at the instant of his inclination, Mohammed executed 
the will of liis sovereign, and put him to death by plunging a 
poniard into his left breast. He immediately quitted the apart- 
ment, and announced that Ali had ceased to exist. Some men 
of Mohammed's suite then entered, and divided the head from 
the body. The former having been shewn to the Sultan's troops 
as well as to those who had embraced the rebel's part, a strife 
followed, in which several men were killed. But the minds of the 
people were soon calmed, and all discord was appeased by shouts 
of ' Long live Sultan Mahmoud and liis Vizir Khourshid 
Pasha.' "* 

* M. Pouqueville must be allowed to kill Ali in his own way, and it will be 
confessed, he does it with more dramatic effect ; but he omits to mention his 
authorities. " It was five o'clock," says the Historian with his accustomed 
precision," when the Vizir, who was sitting opposite to the entrance gate, saw 
arrive with gloomy countenances, Hassan Pasha, Omer Briones, Mehemet, 
Khourshid's selictar, his kafetangi, several officers of the army and a numerous 
suite. At their appearance, Ali rises with impetuosit}', his hand on the pistols 
in his girdle. 'Stop! what do you bring me ?' he exclaims to Hassan in a 
voice of thunder. 'The will of his Highness} do you know these august 
characters .'" — shewing him the brilMant gilded frontispiece which adorned 
the firmah. 'Yes; 1 reverence it.' ' Well, then, submit to fate ; make your 
ablutions ; address your prayer to God and the Prophet : your head is de- 
manded b}'' — ' My head,' replied Ali, furiously interrupting him, ' is not to 
be given up so easily.' These words were no sooner uttered, than they were 
followed by a pistol shot, which wounded Hassan in the thigh. With the ra- 



MODERN GREECi:. 85 

Thus fell a man who, for nearly sixty years, had hraved every 
danger and dared every crime, and wlio, for half that period, 
had virtually ruled the greater part of Continental Greece and 
Epirus. With regard to his character, there cannot be two 
opinions : it was one of pure unsophisticated evil, with scarcely 
a redeeming quality ; one of those rank productions of the hot- 
bed of Turkish despotism which are remarkable only for their 
enormous growth ; not differing otherv\nse, in a moral point of 
view from the vulgarest specimen. Ah Tepeleni, Djezzar, 
Kutchuk Ali, Mohammed Aii, have all risen to power by the 
same profligate means ; and their biography consists of a repeti- 
tion of the same crimes or intrigues. The horrible political 
system of which they were component parts, the government of 
which they were the legitimate and patronised depositaries and 
ministers, must be considered as, in fact, the parent of all the 
evil. Estimating Ali with a reference to the habits of his coun- 
tiy, the system of his education, and the principles of his reli- 
gion, comparing him with his predecessors and his rivals, there was 
nothing in his character out of nature, nothing enormous but his 
power. Aiid if we consider the state of social disorder to wliich 
liis strong government succeeded, the multitude of petty tyrants 
and brigands which he swept away to make room for the foun-. 
dation of his empire, tlie number of smaller reptiles which this^ 
ai'ch-serpent swallowed up, we shall be disposed to adopt Mr. 

pidity of lightning, Ali kills the kafetanji, and his guards firing at the same 
moment on the crowd, bring down several tchoadars. The terrified Osnianlis 
flee from the pavilion. Ali perceives that he is bleeding : he is wounded in 
the breast. He roars like a bull. They fire from all parts on the kiosk, and 
four of his palikars fall at his side. He no longer knows where to make head. 
He hears the noise of assailants beneath his feet : they fire through the 
wooden floor which he treads. He has just received a ball iu his side ; an- 
other, fired upwards from below, hits him in the vertebral column ; he totters — 
catches at a window — falls on a sofa. ' Run," he cries to one of his tchoadars; 
' go, my friend, and despatch poor Vasiliki' (his favourite wife), ' that the un- 
happy woman may not be outraged by these wretches.' The door opens : 
all i-esistance is at an end. The palikars, who have ceased to defend the ty- 
rant, throw themselves from the windows. The selictar of Khourshid Paslia 
enters, followed by executioners. Ali was yet full of life. 'Let the justice of 
God be accomplished,' said a cadi ; and the executioners seizing, at these 
words, the criminal by the beard, drag him under the peristyle ; there, placing 
his head on one of the stairs, they had to strike repeatedly with a notched cut- 
lass before they could efiect his decapitation " — Histoire, ^c. torn iii. pp. 374 
— 6. M- Pouqueville's sentimental reflections on the agonies which Ali is 
represented to have sufiered, and on the warning which his fate reads to ty- 
rants, we have not thought it necessary to give. If his authority may be re- 
lied on, the head of Ali preserved something so imposing and terrible, that the 
Turks could not help gazing on it with a sort of stupor ; Khourshid rose 
when it was brought him, bowed thrice, and kissed the beard of the deceased 
hero ; and the lameutations of the warlike Epiriotes, were eloquent and un- 
paralleled ! 



86 MODERN GREECE. 

Hughes's conclusion, that his government was on the whole a 
blesssing to the inhabitants. 

Nothing could be worse, that Traveller remarks, than the im- 
placable feuds between fierce and independent tribes, and the 
perpetual civil dissensions which desolated the western pasha- 
liks prior to the consolidation of All's power ; and so lawless 
were the natives of the wild mountains, to such an extent did 
brigandage prevail, that agriculture was neglected, commerce 
languished, the very arts of civilisation began to disappear, and 
the whole land presented one unvaried scene of poverty and 
wretchedness. But, under Ali, though all were subject to one 
mighty despot, no petty tyrants were permitted to exist, and pro- 
tection was given equally to the Turk, the Greek, and the Alba- 
nian against the aggressions of each other. Religious toleration 
was freely granted, and the regularity of monarchial power 
had in some measure succeeded to the factions of aristocracies 
and republics. " There exists at present," says Mr. Hughes in 
1819, "a security in these dominions, which we should seek 
for in vain elsewhere where the baneful influence of the Cres- 
cent extends. A police is organised, robbers are extirpated, 
roads and canals are made or repaired, rivers are rendered nav- 
igable, so that the merchant can now traverse the Albanian dis- 
tricts with safety, and the traveller with convenience. Agricul- 
ture, in spite of all obstacles, improves ; commerce increases ; 
and the whole nation advances, perhaps unconsciously, towards 
higher destinies and greater happiness." * 

The author and main spring of these improvements may have 
been licentious, — he was a Moslem ; cruel and pitiless, — he was 
born and bred a brigand ; faithless and perfidious, — he was a 
compound of Turk and Greek, and all mixed castes inherit the 
vices of both sides 5 besides, he had Turks and Greeks to deal 
with. In a word, totally devoid of religion, he was restrained by 
no conscientious scruples, no moral principles. But he must 
be admitted to have possessed at least a capacity for greatness ; 
and he deserves to rank in this respect, not with the Djezzars or 
Domitians of the earth, but with the Herods and the Napoleons. 

The fall of Ali was the occasion of high satisfaction and tri- 
umph to the Porte. The exhibition of his head at the imperial 
gate in February, 1822, and the triumphal conveyance into the 
capital of part of liis spoils, excited a high degree of popular 

* Hughes, vol. ii. p. 215. Some further anecdotes relating to Ali Pasha's 
personal character and habits will be given in the description of loannina. 
It is in a political point of view, chiefly, that the historian has to contemplate 
him. 



MODERN GREECE. 87 

enthusiasm at a critical moment. Only a small part of the 
Pasha's gold, however, found its way into the imperial treasury ; 
and the Porte gained but little in the substitution of one Alba- 
nian for another in the government of Epirus, when it bestowed 
on Omer Vrionis the pashalik of loannina and Arta, as the re- 
ward of his treachery. "Ali Pasha," remarks Mr. Leake, 
" may have thwarted the execution of all the measures of the 
Porte, which tended to reduce his authority, and, in general, 
those which did not originate with himself; he may have trans- 
mitted a larger sum to Constantinople in the shape of presents to 
persons in power, than in that of tribute to the imperial treasury ; 
and in the latter respect, he may never have sent as much as 
would satisfy the wishes of Government; nevertheless, it is 
probable, that tlie Porte, during his reign, was more truly master 
of Greece than it had ever been before, and that it derived, upon 
the whole, as much revenue from the country; while it is cer- 
tain, that, by leaving Ali to oppose the armed Greeks to one 
another, and to suppress the spuit of revolt by the military 
strength of Albania, she most effectually secured herself against 
the consequences of foreign intrigues among the Christian sub- 
jects of European Turkey ; — ^that the concentration of power in 
All's hands was the best protection which the empire could pos- 
sess, on a frontier where it was (at one time) endangered by the 
increase of the power of France, not less than the north-eastern 
side was menaced by the encroachments of Russia .... Affairs, 
in fact, became less favourable to the future influence of the 
Porte over Albania, after his fall, than they had been under Ali, 
or than they would have been under the government of his 
sons." * 

It appears pretty certain, that the rebellion of Ali Pasha de- 
termined, more than any other known event, the period of that 
extensive insurrection, for which things had long been in a course 
of preparation ; and it seems equally clear, that the explosion 
was premature. Other circumstances had concurred to excite 
that fermentation, which led to the first irregular movements in 
the cause of Grecian independence. 

An association of Greeks, styling itself the Society of Friends 
(?^ eraigsik (pLlLxri), had been formed in the dominions of Aus- 
tria and Russia, about the year 1814, in imitation of the revolu- 
tionary societies then prevalent in Italy and Germany. The 
liberation of their country, which had long been the cherished 
object of the Greeks settled in those countries, was the project 

* Outline, pp. 34, 62. 



83 MODERN GREECE. 

'to which the members of the Hetaria bound themselves by oath 
to devote theu' lives and fortunes.* Its members were divided 
into three classes (6a6fio(.y, blamides or chiefs, systemeni or coad- 
jutors, and hiereis or priests. The three classes had distinct 
signs and private means of communication by the position of 
the hand and fingers, as in free-masonry ; and each class had a 
separate cipher ; though they appear to have possessed also a 
common method intelligible to all. The facility afforded for the 
admission of new members was very great, as any one member, 
with the privity of a second, had the power of admitting a can- 
didate whom he deemed qualified. The requisite qualifications 
were, that he be a true Hellene, a zealous lover of his country, 
and a good and virtuous man ; that he be a member of no other 
secret society ; and that his desire to be catechised into the 
Hetaria proceed from no other motive than pure patriotism. 
The funds of the Hetaria are believed to have been very consid- 
erable, derived principally from the sum paid by every member 
on his admission. They were deposited in the hands of Greek 
merchants at Odessa, and were for the most part consumed by 
the calamitous expedition of Ypsilanti. In fact, there seems to 
be little doubt, that the focus of the Hetaria was in the southern 

* The object of the Society is thus expressed in the Romaic document 
cited by Mr. Waddington, from whose volume these particulars are taken : 
" The Hetaria consists of native Greeks, patriots, and is named the Society 
of the Friendly. Their object is tlie purification of this nation, and, with the 
aid of heaven, their independence." The principal oath, or form ef adjura- 
tion, contained the following clauses ; " In the presence of the true God, 
spontaneously I swear, that I will be faithful to the Hetaria in all and 
through all ; I will never betray the slightest portion of its acts or words ; nor 
will I ever in any manner give even my relatives or friends to understand that 
I am acquainted with them. I swear, that henceforward I will not enter into 
any other society, or into any bond of obligation ; but whatever bond, or 
whatever I may possess in the world, when compared with the Hetaria, I will 
hold as nothing, I swear, that I will nourish in my heart irreconcileable 
hatred against the tyrants of my country, their followers, and favourers j and 
1 will exert every method for their injury and destruction." [Then, after two 
or three clauses binding the members to acts of friendship and mutual assist- 
ance, and referring to the introduction of others into the society, it proceeds.] 
'' I swear, that I will ever so regulate my conduct, that I may be a virtuous 
man ; I will incline with piety towards my own form of worship, without 
disrespectfully regarding those of foreigners ; I will ever present a good 
example ; I will aid, counsel, and support the sick, the unfortunate, and the 
feeble ; T will reverence the government, the tribunals, and the ministers of 
the country in which I may be residing. Last of all, I swear by thee, my 
sacred and suffering country (5 Upa koI a0Aia Trarptj), — I swear by thy long-en- 
dured tortures, — I swear by the bitter tears which for so many centuries have 
been shed by thy unhappy children, — I swear by the future liberty of my 
countrymen, — that I consecrate myself wholly to thee ; that henceforth thou 
shalt be the scope of my thoughts, thy name the guide of my actions, thy 
happiness the recompense of iny labours." 



MODERN GREECE. 89 

provinces of Russia, and tliat tlie numerous Greek residents 
tliere, formed by far the majority of its members. Few, if any 
Athenians, Mr. Waddington says, were Hetarists, and some of 
the principal Hydriotes, though frequendy invited to become 
members, refused to give any countenance to the society. 

Widi regard to the immediate originators of the society, and 
the author of the catechism and oadi, we have at present no cer- 
tain or specific information. It seems that an association of 
seven individuals had been formed as far back as the year 1792, 
of whom die celebrated Riga, styled die Modern Tyrtseus, was 
one,* the object of which was to prepare the minds of the 
people for a new effort in favour of emancipation ; but wheth- 
er the Hetaria was in any way connected with that association, 
does not appear. In a memoir on the origin of the revolution, 
written in Greek, referred to by Mr. Waddington, it is stated, 
that Prince Mavrokordato, the ex-hospodar of Moldavia, con- 
ceived and executed, during his exile in Russia, as early as the 
year 1802, the project of forming a society of Greeks for the 
purpose of instructing and enlightening his countrymen. This 
society, it is stated, had no immediate political view ; its only 
ostensible object was the education of Greece. Prince Mavro- 
kordato died in 1814 ; and the direction of the society falling 
into the hands of less patient politicians, it changed its name, its 
nature, and principles, and became such as the Hetaria Philike 
has been described. Four persons, whose names are not men- 
tioned, are represented as having then assumed the direction of 
it, who drew up the statutes and the formula of the terrible oath 
to be subscribed by the members. " The more active chiefs of 
the Hetaria sustained the ardour of the society by repeated 
promises of Russian protection ; their sincerity, however, was 
sometimes doubted, and a Moreote named Galabi, or Galeotti, 
was sent to St. Petersburgh to ascertain the real state of the 
case by a personal conference with Capo d'Istrias. That minis- 
ter immediately undeceived him as to any hope of assistance 

* This accomplished Greek, whose name is still held in the highest honour by 
his countrymen, was bora in Thessaly about the year 1760, and finished his 
education in Italy. He subsequently made the tour of Europe. On his re- 
turn home, he devoted his whole soul to the endeavour to rouse the sjiirit of 
freedom in his countrymen. In addition to his odes and songs, which are to 
be heard in every part of the countvy, he bad commenced translations of the 
Travels of Anacharsis, Marmonlel's Tales, and some other French vsorks. He 
was also the first person who published a map of Greece with a nomenclature 
in the vernacular tongue. The seizure of Riga on the Austrian territory by 
Turkish emissaries, and his execution at Belgrade, with the connivance of the 
Imnerial Government, is an indelible stain on the cabinet of Vienna. 

12 



90 MODERN GREECE, 

from Russia, and Galabi returned to inform his countrymen ; but 
he had scarcely set foot in the Morea when he died."* 

The first operations of the Hetaria were conducted apparently, i 
with little prudence, since in 1815, Ali Pasha obtained posses- 
sion of a copy of the catechism, which he sent to General Camp- 
bell, (at that time commander of tlie forces in the Ionian Isles,) for 
his inspection. Fortunately, the Vizir mistook the origin of the 
document, attributing it to some private machinations of the 
Philo-music society, an association purely literary, and which was 
fortunate enough to obtain the patronage of crowned heads. 

In the year 1819, Count Capo d'Istrias visited Corfu, his na- 
tive island; and his journey, whatever was its real object, excit- 
ed intense interest and sanguine expectation on the part of the 
Hetarists, who regarded him as their great patron and protector, 
and were ready to hail his appearance as the hour of their re- 
demption and the signal for revolt. So sudden an explosion, 
however, would not have coincided with the views of the wily pol- 
itician. To allay the effervescence thus unintentionally excited, 
and to prevent any premature insurrectionary movements, he drew 
up a very singular document, entitled, " Observations on the 
means of meliorating the condition of the Greeks." In this 
paper, which has been supposed to be intended as a land-mark 
to direct the blind and irregular movements of the Hetarists, the 
Writer labours more especially to inculcate the necessity of an 
entire devotedness to the Greek Church, and of doing nothing 
except through the medium, and with the concurrence of the 
priests. f The publication of this document had for the time its 
intended effect. Every thing remained tolerably quiet till the 
period of the rebellion of Ali Pasha, which took place about a 

* M. Pouqueville, who affects to know all about the Hetaria, says, that it 
was founded in 1814, at Vienna. Mr. Blaquiere states, that its head-quarters 
were at St. Petersburgh. The latter statement is no further correct, we im- 
agine, than as Capo d'Istrias was looked to as its patron. As to the former, 
the reader will recollect Lord Byron's remark — " Pouqueville is always out." 

t " Quelques soieni Us chances des 6venemens, soil que la situation actuelle 
de notre patrie ait ase maintenir inalterable pour des longues anntes, soit que la 
Greet ait a. subir une crise, il est toujours d'un grand interet ; le. Que la Nation 
soit entihrement devoui 6 son Eglise, etque par la, lepeuple de chaque contree 
soit parte naturellement a reconnailre el a cherir les chefs qui se trouvent avoir 
le plus travaille a son bonheur. 2e. Que les Pasteurs soient, aidant que faire se 
pourra, les organes de ce grand resullat. 3o. Que Vinstruciion publique soit 
ideniifiec a celle du Clerge, que rune ne puisse jamais se dciarher de Vautre, 
mains encore etre en divergence." " Fits de notre Sainte Mere Eglise, nous sam- 
mes tousfreres,'' is the first sentence in this document. But why confide education 
exclusively to the hands of an illiterate and degraded priesthood, which is admit- 
ted to require almost entire re-organisation .'' " For this plain I'eason," remarks 
Mr. Waddington, " that in any matter of political importance, the Greek priest- 
hood were quite sure to be the machine of the only power in Europe profess* 



MODERN GREECE. 91 

yeai* and a half after Capo d'Istrias's visit to Corfu. " A new 
fermentation was then perceived tliroughout Greece, and all the 
springs of the Hetaria were once more put in motion. Agents or 
members of that body, styling themselves Apostles, pressed 
down in swarms from the banks of the Danube, the Dniester, 
and the Dnieper, and proclaimed by their presence the approach 
of the crisis which they were hastening by their exhortations. 
The sedati^'e which had proved formerly of so much avail, was 
again administered ; and during the winter of 1820-1, written 
copies of the "Observations" were once more distributed. But 
the disease had increased in violence, or the medicine had lost 
its efficacy, and the voice of moderation and policy was lost in 
the explosion of the Greek Revolution."* 

The time originally fixed by the Hetaria for carrying its 
great enterprise into execution, is said to have been in the year 
1825. The quarrel between Ali and the Porte, the seditious 
attitude of Servia, and the discontents in Wallachia and Molda- 
via, which, in February 1821, had broken out into open acts of 
violence, were the circumstances which led to the firing of the 
train. On the 7tli of March, 1821, Alexander Ypsilanti, then 
a major-general in the Russian service, and son of a former 
Greek governor of Wallachia, entered Moldavia with a Greek 
corps, and, in concert with Michael Sutzo, the reigning viceroy, 
issued a proclamation calling on the Christians to take up arms, 
and promising them, in not very ambiguous terms, the support 

ing- the Greek religion. Here it is, then, that we discover the ambiguous 
features of the political Hetarist. Under the well-disposed drapery of the 
patriot of Greece, it is here that we recognise the minister of Russia." 

* Waddiagton, p. 1. These " Apostles" (as they were styled by their em- 
ployer), were known to the lower classes, Mr, Blaquiere says, only under the 
denomination of philosophers. Their appearance in Greece coincided with the 
first movements of Ypsilanti. " They went about," says Mr. Blaquiere, 
circulating reports that the Sultan had declared his resolution of transporting 
all the Greeks into Asia Minor, and establishing Turkish colonies, drawn from 
that portion of the empire, in their place ; that Prince Alexander was abetted 
and supported by Russia, and that he was marching at the head of a large 
force upon Constantinople. Some of then! affected to imitate the language 
an'd gestures of the old Grecian orators ; and a ludicrous scene occurred at 
Spezzia, where an apostle who had proposed Demosthenes as his model, 
mounted a rostrum and freely indulged in such reproaches as that great mas- 
ter of his art used not unfrequently to address to his countrymen ; but the 
Spezziots, less accustomed to such harangues, and by no means so gifted with 
patience as the Athenians, pulled the modern censor from his pedestal, 
and rewarded his frankness with a sound drubbing. On the whole, however, 
these emissaries produced a great effect ; their reports were greedily swallow- 
ed by the people, while the Greeks, influenced by their characteristic ardour, 
neither lost a moment in deliberation, nor in waiting for more correct inform- 
ation of what was passing elsewhere, but rushed at once into the enterprise." 
Blaquieke, p. 96, 



93 MODERN GREECE. 

of Russia. This, he was not only unauthorised to promise, butj 
if the Greek authority cited by Mr. Waddington may be relied 
upon, he knew would not be afforded. It is stated that, not 
long after the first deputation from the Morea had waited on the 
Russian minister at St. Petersburgh, Ypsilanti had allowed him- 
self to be called to the direction of the Hetaria,* and having 
obtained a two year's leave of absence from his military duties, 
had fixed his head-quarters at Kischenow, where he took mea- 
sures to organise the insurrection. The Moreotes, however, 
still distrustful, sent two other deputies to ascertain the real pos- 
ture of affairs ; one to St. Petersburg, the other to Kischenow. 
" The latter became the dupe of Ypsilanti, and returned to the 
Morea with a fictitious ukase, in which the Emperor was made 
to hold language the most favourable to the Greeks and the most 
hostile against the Porte. Camarina, the other deputy, repaired 
direct to St. Petersburgh. There he had an interview with 
Count Capo d'Istrias, who, not content with giving an express 
verbal disavowal of Ypsilanti's enterprise, put into the hands of 
the Moreote deputy, circular letters for the primates of the 
Peninsula, in which he pointed out the abyss into which the 
attempt was likely to precipitate them. But Camarina was to 
share the fate of Galabi : just as he was about to embark at 
Galatez to cross the Danube, he died by the hand of an assassin, 
and his death again intercepted that intelligence respecting the 
true state of the case, which the Moreotes had twice attempted 
to obtain. Ypsilanti then attempted to excite the Servians to ■ 
revolt ; but his papers were intercepted by the Turkish authori- 
ties at the passage of the Ada on the Danube, and discovered 
his designs. The emperor Alexander, moreover, who was then 
at Laybach, having immediately disavowed the proceedings of 
Ypsilanti and Sutzo, the issue of the attempt could not long be 
doubtful. After some acts of cruelty on both sides, the expedi- 
tion ended in the evacuation of Yassy by Ypsilanti, and of Bu- 
karest by Theodore, chief of the Vlakho-Mold avian insurgents, 
whom Ypsilanti shortly afterwards seized and put to death. j- 
He himself, after a single encounter \vith the Turks, which ex- 
hausted his resources, was compelled to flee into the Austrian 

* " // se declara Vorgan officiel de celte puissance occvlte ; il crea des Ephoris, 
ou commites dirigeants sur divers points de la Grece ; il lexir recommanda Vemploi 
de tousles moyens propres a seduire les Grecs, a organiser V insurrection." — 
Waddington. p. Iv. 

t M. Pouqueville says, that Theodore had betrayed to the Grand A''izir the 
projects of Ypsilanti and the Hetarists, in the hope of obtaining for himself 
the government of Wallaciiia. 



MODERN GREECE. 93 

dominions, where he was immediately seized by the government, 
and thrown into a dungeon." 

Thus, then, it would seem that the insurrection was immedi- 
ately produced by the artifices and false representations of Yp- 
silanti, who made use of the machinery of the Hetaria for the 
accomplishment of his schemes. A Russian subject, whose 
acti\nty in exciting revolutionary movements in Greece during 
the autumn of 1820, can be sufficiently proved, is supposed to 
have been either his agent or his dupe. What were Ypsilanti's 
motives for thus rashly embarking in so desperate an enterprise, 
in direct opposition to the advice of the Russian minister, can 
only be matter of surmise. Was he in the confidence or in the 
pay of the Vizir of loannina *? It seems to be nearly certain, 
that Ali Pasha had at least information of his designs. " Only 
assist me till March,^'' he said to the Suliots, " and the Sultan 
will then have enough upon his hands." In March, Ypsilanti 
issued his proclamation. At another time during the siege of 
his castle, the Vizir declared, that in a few moi>hs he would - 
shake the empire, and that those who attacked him should trem- 
ble even in the heart of Constantinople. " Execrable city !" 
he exclaimed ; " before he dies, Ali shall yet behold thy palaces 
in ashes."* 

That a grand plot was formed at Constantinople for the burn- 
ing of the city and the murder of the Sultan, Mr. Waddington 
says, is not at all generally doubted ; and the contemporaneous 
seizure of all the Turkish fortresses in the Morea, was another 
part of the same extensive conspiracy. The existence of some 
such conspu'acy is established by the fact, that the principal 
merchants of the Islands had, as early as the October preceding, 
recalled the greater part of their vessels, which were detained 
in port in condition for immediate service. And it was the de- 
tection of this plot by the Turkish Government, tliat is said to 
have forced the conspiracy into action before it was ripe, or the 
arrangements necessary for its success had been completed. The 
prematurity .and failure of Ypsilanti's expedition, are attributed 
to this circumstance. f Nothing, however, can justify Ypsilanti's 
disingenuous concealment of the unfavourable disposition of the 

* Pouqueville, torn. ii. p. 163. 

t Waddington, pp. vi. Ixviii. M. Raffenel, in his " poetical History of the 
Revolution," (as Mr. Wadding-ton justly characterises it,) affirms that the 
Porte received its first information of the meditated revolt, from the British 
ambassador, Lord Strangford. The fact is, that his Excellency did not reach 
Constantinople till the 21st of February, and Ypsilanti was issuing proclama- 
tions at Yassy on the 6th of March ; an interval which would not have allowed 
of the requisite communications. Ypsilanti's letters to the Servians had indeed 



94 MODERN GREECE. 

Russian court, and the false information by which he deceived 
his fellow patriots. The only probable explanation of his con- 
duct is, that being as vain as he was ambitious, and having com- 
mitted himself by holding out the idea that he was countenanced 
by his own Government, — a supposition which he knew to be 
essential to his success, — he could not brook that the truth should 
be discovered; he therefore resolved at all hazards and by all 
means to drive on his projects, in the hope that, if successful, he 
should be able to justify his conduct.* 

Transitory as were the effects of this rash and ill-conducted 
enterprise in the Dacian provinces, it had the greatest influence, 
in connexion with the rebellion of Ali Pasha, in exciting the 
insurrection in Greece. The example of resistance was set, 
towards the end of March, by Germanos, Archbishop of Patras, 
who, having been summoned to the capital, had proceeded as 
far as Kalavryta, when, finding the people, together with a body 
of armatoli, well disposed to his views, he openly raised the 
standard of independence. This was immediately followed by 
a similar manifestation at Patras ; but there, the attempt had no 
other effect than to cause the destruction of the town, while the 
castle, being strongly garrisoned, remained in the possession of 
the Turks. The Mainotes, descending from their rugged moun- 
tains, speedily occupied the plains of Laconia and Messenia. 
Before the end of April, a senate had assembled at Kalamata, 
and the fleet of Hydra had proceeded to the little island oi 

been intercepted by the Turks some weeks prior to Lord Strangford's arrival. 
Such a conspii'acy, However, had it come to his Lordship's knowledge, it 
would have been hardly consistent with his diplomatic character not to reveal. 
M. Raffenel belongs to the same school as M. Pouqueville. An amusing speci- 
men of his learning and accuracy may be given, in his etymology of the 
word Hetarists, which he writes JFAheristes. " It would be difficult," he says, 
" to give the exact sense which the Moldavians attach to this word : they 
intend to express by it all the purity of their intentions, — the sublimity of 
their entei'prise. It is the Greek loord jEthek in all its force.''' , 

* M. Pouquevilie gives the following portrait of Ypsilanti : " Destitute of 
talent (depourvu de talents), but educated, according to the custom of the soi- 
disant princes of the Phanal, by preceptors who had taught him to speak 
correctly several languages, he was learned without possessing that masculine 
knowledge which is the result of well-directed study ; a poet without inspira- 
tion ; amiable without urbanity ; a soldier without being warlike, although he 
had lost the right arm at the battle of Culm. But what especially character- 
ised Alexander Ypsilanti was, the vanity common to the Phanariots, their 
spirit of intrigue, the ambitious end of which terminated in becoming hospo- 
dars of the brutish nations of ancient Dacia, and a feebleness of character 
wliich shewed itself in his suffering himself to be ruled by persons unworthy 
of his confidence." — Histoire, torn. ii. p. 307. What persons are alluded to, 
the Historian does not explain, Mr. Waddington says, that proofs were pre- 
sented at the congress of Verona, of a correspondence of some extent between 
the Greek patriots and the Carbonari, and that the revolution of Naples was 
hailed by the misguided Hetarists as tlie beacon of liberty. 



MODERN GREECE. 1)5 

Psara, which, strong in its fortified rock and nunierous ships, 
had been among tlie first to set the example of insurrection, 
although situated on the advanced posts of the enemy. 

In the mean time, orders had been transmitted by the Porte 
to all the pashas, instantly to disarm all the Greek population j 
and the signal for a war of extermination was given by Sultan 
Mahmoud and his janissaries at Constantinople. On the 22d of 
April, being Easter-day, the greatest of the Greek festivals, 
Gregorious, patriarch of Constantinople, the head of the Greek 
Church, acknowledged and appointed by the Porte, and who 
had recently issued his anathemas against the insurgents, was 
seized and hanged before the patriarchal church in which he 
had been officiadng ; and, as a consummation of ignominy in the 
eyes of die Greek, his body was delivered to Jews to be drag- 
ged through the streets. This murder was accompanied or 
speedily followed by that of several other ecclesiastics of the 
highest rank, in the capital and other parts of the empire, as 
well as by that of many other Greeks of every class.* The 
motive for these atrocious proceedings, was probably the hope 
of terrifying the Greeks into submission ; but they excited more 
indignation than terror, and only tended to make the insurrec- 
tion universal. The destruction of several Greek churches 
heightened the exasperation of the Christians, and a general con- 
viction prevailed, that these proceedings were but a prelude to 
an intended extermination of the whole nation. The priest- 
hood of the islands of the Morea, thinking themselves to be 
peculiarly marked out for destruction, did not hesitate to in- 
crease the ferment by their spiritual influence, and to inspire the 
rebellion with all the energy and malignity of religious warfare. 
Hence, neither the reverses in the Dacian provinces and the 
overthrow of the Hetarists, nor the failure of the conspiracy at 
Constantinople, prevented the prosecution of the warfare in 
Greece, where the fond persuasion that Russia was on the eve 
of a rupture with the Porte, contributed to sustain the enthusi- 
asm and exertions of the insurgents. 

* Mr. Blaquire says, that the number of Gi'eeks sacrificed during the first 
three months of the contest, is estimated at 30,000 ; but this must be intended 
to include those who fell in different conflicts, and even then is doubtless an 
exaggeration. The murder of the patriarch was preceded by that of Prince 
Morousi, " one of the most enlightened and patriotic men possessed by Mod- 
ern Greece." Three archbishops are stated to have been hung at the very 
threshold of the church, besides the primate, who was upwards of seventy 
years of age. He is stated to have been a man of unaffected piety and sim- 
plicity of manners ; and it is no slight testimony to his worth, that he is said 
to have died poor. 



96 MODERN GREECE. 

Hydra, Psara, and Spezzia were able to enter upon the naval 
campaign with a force of between eighty and ninety vessels, of 
the average bulk of 250 tons and the average strength of 12 
guns. Fifty or sixty of a smaller class, and many others still 
smaller, were supplied bj^ the other islands. In the latter end of 
May, the inferiority of the Turkish marine in skill and enter- 
prise, was shewn in the loss of one of their two-decked ships of 
war, which, having been separated from the Turkish squadron 
near Lesbos, was burned by a Hydriot fire-ship. Soon after 
Midsummer, not only in the Morea, but throughout a great part 
of Northern Greece, as far as Salonika, the Turks had retired 
into the large towns and fortified places, all the mountains and 
open country being either in the hands of the Greeks or exposed 
to their incursions. Agents had been sent to Europe for the 
purchase of arms and ammunition ; many volunteers, Franks as 
well as Greeks, had arrived in the Morea ; and some generous 
contributions of money and stores had been received, both frorn 
foreigners and from opulent Greek merchants settled in different 
European seaports. 

The native Greeks who took the lead in the Peninsula were, 
Petros Bey, since better known under the name of Mavi'omik- 
hali, who had been nominated Bey of Maina by the Sultan ; 
Constantino Kolokotroni, in person an Ajax, who, like his father, 
had long been a capitanos of armatoli in the Morea, and had 
held military rank in both the Russian and the English service ; 
Demetrius Ypsilanti, who, like his brother Alexander, was an 
officer in the Russian army ; and Alexander Mavrokordato,* 
also of a distinguished Fanariot family. Demetrius, who 
reached Hydra in June from Trieste, bore a commission from 
his brother, appointing him general in chief of all the forces in 
Greece. He was received by the Hydriots with discharges of 
artillery and other demonstrations of joy. ' Among his followers 
were a younger brother of Prince Cantacuzene and an indi- 
vidual named Condiotti, who had been valet de chamhre to 
Count Capo d'Istrias. On proceeding to the Morea, Ypsilanti 
assumed the command of the patriot army before Tripolitza, 
which was readily conceded to him, under the idea that he had 
brought with him large sums of money and a quantity of military 
stores. But this illusion soon vanished ; and as soon as the dis- 
astrous issue of his brother's expedition became known, little 
disposition was shewn to defer to his authority. Condiotti soon 
withdrew, not without having incurred suspicion of being one of 

* Mavrokordato joined the array in August. 



MODERN GREECE. 97 

those who had embezzled part of the sums raised by the Heta- 
rists. Ailendouli, anotlier determined partisan of Russia, went 
to Crete, and obtained the command of the insurgent troops in 
that island, but was subsequently obliged to flee, being driven 
away as an impostor. 

Demetrius, however, is generally represented to be a high- 
minded and honourable man, courteous, humane, and disinter- 
ested.* He was now not more than twenty-two years of 
age ; and his situation, alike delicate and arduous, called at once 
for more than the energy of youth, tempered by the counsels 
of age. " Ypsilanti," says Mr. Blaquiere, " had two import- 
ant objects in \iew : one of these was, to establish a. general and 
central government for all Greece ; the other to put the army 
upon a regular footing, and to assimilate it to the troops of Eu- 
rope. Both the above designs met with numberless obstacles ; 
the first would have destroyed the influence of many interested 
individuals, who were at the head of different states of the con- 
federation, and the second was calculated to lessen tlie power of 
tlie military chiefs. The captains and ephors therefore joined 
in opposing them, and in other respect-s created such difficulties 
as to render the situation of the Prince exceedingly irksome. 
In the meanwhile, two events occurred, which, though favourable 
to the cause of independence, tended, by their consequences, 
to exasperate Ypsilanti still more. The strong fortresses of 

"•*Mr. AVaddington, who found him living at Tripolitza in 1823, in perfect 
privaci', cliaracterises him as " an honest, well-meaning, disinterested patriot," 
but, unfortunately, possessed of "neither wealth, talents, nor physical power 
sufficient to qualify him for any eminent situation, civil or military ; and the 
magic of his name had nearly passed away." " His violent personal jealousy 
of Mavrokordato will prevent him, I fear," adds this writer, " from any cor- 
dial co-operation with a person whose energies are proved by every collision 
to be so far superior to his own." Count Pecchio thus describes him. " He 
is bald, short in stature, and of a slight form ; but if nai»re has not gifted 
him with a military presence, I was assured that he had always shewn himself 
intrepid in war. He adopts the European habits, and speaks French well." 
"Though considered deficient in energy," says Captain Humphreys, "he 
possesses tried personal courage, great judgment and discrimination of cliar- 
acter, sincere patriotism, disinterestedness, and integrity, little common in 
Greece ; and though by descent a Fanariot, is not addicted to intrigue. His 
predilections appear Russian ; but I believe no Greek has the welfar* of his 
country more sincerely at heart. His shyness is much to his disadvantage 
in his intercourse with strangers, but to his intimates he shews an amiable 
character ; and I have observed, the officers and dejjendants of his suite have 
never left him in his retirement." " His greatest fault, perhaps," says Mr. 
Blaquiere, " is that of not possessing sufficient energy, and being too mild for 
the circumstances in which he was placed, and the men with whom he had to 
act ... .Although no man had deeper reasons for hating the Turks, yet he 
constantly interposed to save them from insult and ill-treatment when van- 
quished ; and by example as well as precept, endeavoured to check the excesses 
inseparable from such a war." 

1.3 



98 MODERN GREECE. 

Malvasia and Navarin surrendered to the patriots in August. 
The former, situated on the eastern coast of Laconia, is a place 
very difficult to reduce, being built on a rock washed on every 
side by the Egean sea, and communicating with the continent 
only by a bridge. Defended in this quarter by a strong treble 
wall, it is inaccessible at every other point, containing within 
itself sources of excellent water, and a small patch of cultivated 
land, sufficient to support a garrison of fifty or sixty men. Be- 
low this impregnable citadel, is a port and suburb, where most 
of the inhabitants reside. The Greeks had kept it closely 
blockaded both by sea and land, since the month of April ; 
Cantaciizene arrived in the camp about the middle of July, and 
took the command. Famine had already made dreadful havoc 
amongst the Mahometans, who, after prolonging their existence 
by the most unnatural aliments, were at length reduced to feed 
on human flesh, eating their prisoners, and even their own child- 
ren. Nor was this a solitary instance, as most of the strong 
holds in the Peloponnesus presented similar examples. To such 
extremities will men go, in obedience to the great and irresistible 
law of self-preservation. But while the majority of the popula- 
tion was thus suffering, the governor, shut up \vith tv/o hundred 
soldiers in the citadel, enjoyed abundance, and gave himself no 
trouble about the fate of liis countrymen in the lower town. 
These last were disposed to famish rather than trust to die mercy 
of the peasants and Mainotes, who were investing the place ; 
but the arrival of Prince Cantacuzene having inspired them with 
some degree of confidence, they ventured to open a negotiation. 
Full protection was stipulated for their lives, moveable property, 
and the honour of their families ; it vv^as also agreed, that they 
should be transported in Greek vessels to the coast of Anatolia. 
On the faith of these assurances, a part of the inhabitants got 
into the castle by stratagem, seized and disarmed the governor 
and his troops, and on the 3d of August, opened the gates to the 
besiegers. 

" Prompted by those feelings of irritation and revenge which 
have been so often, betrayed under similar circumstances, and 
impressed with a notion that the garrison was not entitled to the 
benefits of a capitulation entered into with the inhabitants of the 
town, the Greek soldiery, strangers to discij)line, fell on the 
former, of whom numbers perished. To the credit of Cantacu- 
zene, it should be added, that he displayed equal prudence and 
firmness on this occasion, interposing his authority with such 
effect, as to save a number of lives ; and he eventually succeed- 
ed in putting a stop to the excesses, though not without consider- 



MODERN GREECE. 99 

able risk from his own soldiers, who conceived they were only 
retaliating the countless murders previously committed by the 
infidels. Considering the relative situation of the parties now 
opposed, and the nature of the war, it could hardly be expected 
that the minor articles of the capitulation should be very scru- 
pulously observed. The Turks, were, however, shipped off in 
three Ipsariot vessels, and landed on a small island close to the 
Asiatic coast, whence they reached the continent. Though the 
Greeks have been reproached for this act, they can scarcely be 
blamed for not entering an Ottoman port, well knowing that such 
a step would have been attended with certain death. 

" Navarin, which also surrendered soon after, was the theatre 
of another tragedy, to v/hich none but wars between slaves and 
tlieir task-masters ever give rise. Well fortified, and possessing 
one of tlie finest harbours in Europe, this city is built in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the ancient Pylos. It was ably defended by 
the Turks, who made several vigorous sorties, but at last, every 
kind of sustenance being exhausted, after devouring even their 
slippers, they were forced to capitulate. Ypsilanti had sent one 
of tlie best and most distinguished of his friends, Tipaldo the 
Cephalonian, to conduct the siege. Tipaldo was a man of virtue 
and abilities, who, after practising as a physician in Bessarabia 
with great success, abandoned the rising prospect of wealth to 
take his part in the national war. ^ He manifested great spirit, at 
the head of some lonians, in the various actions which were 
fought under the walls, and it was his presence that chiefly in- 
duced the Turks to treat about a surrender ; for such was their 
obstinate resolution, that they had placed barrels of gunpowder 
under their houses, with the intention of blowing up the town, 
when a longer resistance should become impossible : the same 
terms were granted here as at Malvasia. It was while the siege 
of both these places had been carrying on, that the news of the 
patriarch's murder, and that of the Greek clergy at Adrianople, 
together with the profanation of the Christian churches through- 
out the empire, spread through Greece : the fury of the troops, 
worked up to madness, was therefore vented on the garrison, of 
whom a considerable number were sacrificed. Tipaldo endeav- 
oured in vain to arrest tlie heart-rending spectacle : the infuriated 
soldieiy answered his exhortations by citing some act of person- 
al suffering or oppression, and directing his attention to the 
recent massacres of the capital and other places. 

" These disorders, joined to the opposition he experienced in 
other respects, roused the indignation of Ypsilanti, who determin- 
ed to v^athdraw until a clearer understanding €ould be established. 



100 MODERN GREECE. 

He accordingly issued a proclamation, in which he inveighed 
bitterly against the cruelties and indiscipline of the Peloponne- 
sians, and giving up the command, proceeded to Leondari. The 
primates- and captains being, however, alarmed at this step, sent 
a deputation to the place of his retreat, and persuaded him to 
resume his functions as generalissimo."* 

In the mean time, Samos and most of the .islands in the Archi- 
pelago had followed the example of Hydra ; and the presence 
of Ottoman garrisons, reinforced from Anatolia, alone kept Les- 
bos, Rhodes, and Scio in subjection. Ten thousand Syrian 
troops were also transported into Cyprus, and the horrible atro- 
cities committed there, without an attempt at a rising on the part 
of the inhabitants, formed a counterpart to those of the capital, f 
In the month of June, the Greek marine, emboldened by their 
successes, are believed to have been meditating an attack on 
Srayi'na, when intelligence was brought them that Kydonies 
(Haivali) was menaced by the Turks. The contest which fol- 
lowed, by which that opulent and flourishing to^vn was reduced 
to a heap of cinders, forms a melancholy episode in the history 
of the Revolution. J 

The capture of Navarin and Malvasia was followed by the in- 
vestment of Tripolitza, of which Ypsilanti undertook the super- 
intendence. This place, which is of modern origin, is built on 
the southern edge of a long and elevated plain surrounded with 
the bleak and rugged mountains anciently known as mount 
Maenalus, about half way between the ancient Arcadian cities of 
Mantineia and Tegea. " The town," Mr. Blaquiere says, " is 
irregularly constructed, mostly of stone, with narrow, dirty, and 
crooked streets, having on the whole a very mean appearance. 
With respect to the fortifications, they consist of a wall of ma- 
sonry nine feet high, six feet thick at the bottom, three at the 
top, and furnished with a double row of ill-contrived loop-holes : 
at about two-thirds of its height from the ground, runs a narrow 
and inconvenient banquette, which can only be ascended by 
flights of steps, placed at unequal distances for this purpose. In-~ 
stead of bastions, there are demi-towers at different points, where 
cannon are placed, the rest of the wall being only defended by 
musketry. A citadel has been constructed west of the town, 



* Blaquiere, pp. 125 — ^130. Cantacuzene quitted Greece altogether in dis- 
gust in October, and repaired to Italy. 

t The iiurabfr of Christians who perished in Cyprus, is estimated, somewhat 
too roundly, at 10,000. 

if For an account of this interesting- colonv and its catastrophe, see Mod. 
Trav., Syria, fee, vol. ii. pp. 175, 194. 



MODERN GREECE. 101 

and on a somewhat more regular plan, with casements whose 
roofs are bomb-proof ; but as these are open at the sides, and 
the whole interior space is extremely small, it is' incapable of de- 
fence, if regulai-ly attacked. The artillery, composed of thirty 
pieces of brass, and partly of old iron guns, many of them 
honeycombed, was moimted on loose blocks of wood; instead of 
carriages, and but very indifferently supplied with ammunition or 
shot. Besides these disadvantages, another rocky eminence, 
commanding the town and citadel, within little more than two 
hundred yards, completely screens the approaches of a besieg- 
ing army." 

Besides its o^vn population of about 25,000 persons, Tripolitza 
now contained an influx of Turks from all quarters ; especially 
fugitives from Londari, and almost the entire population of Bar- 
dunia, (a part of Mount Taygetum,) consisting of a colony of 
Mohammedan Albanians, resembling the Mainotes, their neigh- 
bours, alike in their warlike disposition and predatory habits. In 
addition to these, the town was garrisoned by between 3 and 
4000 men, half of them Albanians, under the command of the 
kihaya (lieutenant) of Khourshid Pasha. The Greeks were at 
first very inferior in numbers, and many of thern were scarcely 
armed ; they had no cavalry, and their artillery consisted only 
of five or six cannon and two mortars, managed by a few Euro- 
pean adventvu'ers. The hopes of the besiegers depended on 
cutting off the supplies of the town; but their opponents had a 
formidable cavalry, and so long as the Turkish horses were fit 
for service, the Greeks did not attempt to occupy the plain. As 
the ground is entirely parched up in autumn, and the only forage 
consisted of vine-leaves, the Mussulman cavalry were gradually 
ruined, and the Greeks were enabled to render the blockade 
closer, by posting themselves in the hamlets round the town. 
Frequent skirmishes were brought on by the attempts of the 
Turks to penetrate into tlie vineyards, and on one occasion, a 
detachment, who had made a sally on a foraging expedition, fell 
into an ambuscade on returning, and were defeated by Koloko- 
troni with the loss of a hundred men. Provisions soon began 
to get scarce, and the besiegers having cut the pipes that con- 
veyed water to the town, the distress both of the garrison and 
the other inhabitants became excessive. An epidemic disease 
committed great ravages ; and symptoms of mutiny were dis- 
covered among the Albanians. Towards the middle of Septem- 
ber, the besieged were led to cherish some hopes of relief by 
the intelligence of the arrival of the Turkish fleet, which, after 
making an unsuccessful attempt upon Kalamata, and throwing 



102 MODERN GREECE. 

supplies into Mothoni and Koroni, had been joined at Patras by 
some Algerine ships and by the Capitan-bey, who had been em- 
ployed on the coast of Epirus against Ali Pasha. This hope of 
succour, however, was soon dissipated. Ypsilanti having proceed- 
ed to occupy the Arcadian passes towards Patras, no attempt was 
made from that quarter to relieve Tripolitza. One cause of this 
inactivity on the part of the Turkish commander, was the failure 
of an attempt, made in the early part of the month, to penetrate 
from Thessaly into Boeotia. The Turkish forces had been met 
by the insurgents at Fondana, in the pass leading from the head 
of the Maliac Gulf over Mount Cnemis into Phocis, and had 
been obliged to retreat with considerable loss. No hope remain- 
ed, therefore, of any co-operation by way of the Isthmus. 

At length, the Ottomans began to make some indirect over- 
tures for a capitulation ; but the absence of Ypsilanti and of the 
Europeans who accompanied him, having put an end to any 
thing wearing the semblance of a regular army, it was impossi- 
ble to arrange any terms in which the besieged could place con- 
fidence ; nor were they agreed among thernselves. In fact, 
there seems to have been an end to all discipline and concert on 
both sides. Wliile the kihaya was .treating with an officer of 
Ypsilanti's staff, left behind for that purpose by the Prince, the 
Bardouniots were negotiating with the Bey of Maina, and the 
Albanians with Kolokotroni. The latter soon came to an under- 
standing : it was agreed that they should be allowed to return to 
Epirus, to enter the service of Ali Pasha. On the 1st of Octo- 
ber, the Bai'douniots, to the number of' 2,500, came out and 
surrendered to the Mainotes. Several rich Turks and Jews 
purchased the promise of a safe conduct from Kolokotroni and 
Mavromikhali ; but these chiefs, though they received the price 
of their engagements, were not able to execute them. " On the 
5th of October, some of their followers, having discovered what 
was passing, and being resolved not to be defrauded of their ex- 
pected plunder by the selfish avidity of their leaders, assaulted 
the walls on the northern side, and were speedily followed into 
the city by all the besieging army."* 

* Leake's Outline, p 54. Mr. Blaqiiiere's account of the transaction is as , 
follows : " On the 5th of October, a verbal capitulation is said to have been 
agreed upon ; but scarcely was it concluded, when a fortuitous circumstance 
rendered the compact of no avail, and brought on a terrible catastrophe. A 
few Greek soldiers, having approached the gate of Avgos, entered into con- 
versation with the Turkish sentinels, and began as usual to barter fruit. The 
Turks were imprudent enough to assist them in mounting the wall, with a large 
basket of grapes, in exchange for which they gave their arras ; but no sooner 
had the Greeks gained the summit, thau they hurled down the unguarded Ma- - 



MODERN GREECE. 103 

For two days, the town was given up to the unbridled fury 
and vengeiuice of a savage soldiery. Every kind of excess which 
a thirst for plunder, the wantonness of cruelty, and the lust of 
revenge could instigate, was perpetrated by the victors. " The 
Arcadian peasants, naturally tierce and ungovernable, and who 
had long suffered every species of outrage and indignity from 
the haughty Moslems of Tripolitza, shewed themselves both 
cruel and relendess towards their fallen oppressors ; while the 
Mainotes, less greedy of blood than of spoil, secured the largest 
share of booty. About 6000 Turks are said to have perished, 
and some thousands were made prisoners, while numbers escaped 
to the mountains. The loss of the Greeks was never very ex- 
actly known, but was estimated at 500 killed and wounded. The 
Albanians, to tlie number of fifteen hundred, marched out of the 
town as the Greeks entered, without the least hostility passing 
between them, and were escorted by 500 of Kolokotroni's troops 
to Vostizza, whence they crossed over to Romelia. On finding 
themselves, however, on the other side, out of danger, the re- 
mainder of their maixh was marked by tlie greatest excesses." 

The barbarous conduct of the conquerors of Tripolitza has 
been very unfairly adduced by the enemies of the Greeks, in 
order to throw discredit on their cause. Mr. Blaquiere asks : 
" What means did they possess of guarding the Turks as pris- 
oners, or of sending them out of the country *? A scarcity 
bordering on famine had already overspread the land. Patras, 
Corinth, Modon, Coron, and Napoli were still in the hands of 
the enemy ; a formidable Turkish fleet was at sea, and an Alge- 
rine squadron was cruising among the islands of the Archipelago." 
It may be questioned, however, whetlier considerations like tliese 
weighed with the victors. It is a more direct exculpation of the 
leaders in the cause, that Ypsilanti was absent ; that there exist- 

horaetans ; opened the g:ate, tlie only one that was walled up, to their com- 
rades, and displayed the standard of the cross above it. When. this emblem 
was perceived from the camp, it acted like an electric shock ; the whole 
Christian army instantly rushed from all sides to the assault, and the disorder, 
once begun, could not be stopped, for the Turks immediately opened a brisk fire 
of cannon and small arms upon them from the citadel and ramparts. The prin- 
cipal Greek officers, who certainly could not have restrained their men, were 
drawn away by the torrent : Kolokotroni was one of the last to hear what 
was passing, and as he would not deign to follow the steps of any other cap- 
tain, he determined to force a passage for himself, so that his troops suffered 
severely. After the gates were broken down and the walls scaled, a furious 
struggle was maintained in the streets and houses ; but the Peloponnesians, 
flushed with victory and spurred on by vengeance, were irresistible ; and before 
sunset, All opposition was quelled in the blood of the unfortunate Moslems. 
The citadel, where a large body of Turks had taken refuge, having held out 
till the following evening, surrendered at discretion." 



104 MODERN GREECE. 

ed, in fact, neither concert between the chiefs, nor discipline 
among the troops; that the besieging force consisted in great 
measure of a lawless peasantry, who had long smarted under 
oppression ; and that the war in which they were engaged was, 
on the part of the Turks, a war of extermination.* The Greek 
chiefs are stated most sincerely to have lamented the excesses 
committed on the occasion ; excesses, nevertheless, execrable 
as they were, that have attended, in a thousand instances, the 
progress of the disciplined troops of the Christian powers of 
Europe. 

On the 15th of October, Prince Demetrius, having hastened 
back on receiving intelligence of the fall of Tripolitza, made his 
public entry into the capital. " Nothing," says Mr. Blaquiere, 
" could be more deplorable than the appearance of the town : 
not a single door-lock, and scarcely a nail was left, the Mainotes 
having carried off every thing of that description. The plunder 
was taken home on the backs of their wives, who came down 
in great numbers for this purpose from their native fortresses. 
Ypsilanti had intended to appropriate the lead which covered 
the mosques, to the public service, but it had all been stripped 
off. When every other portable article was gone, peasants 
were seen driving away their asses loaded with doors and window- 
shutters. Of the immense booty, nothing was assigned to the 
exigencies of the nation, except the artillery : every thing else 
became private property. Most of the chiefs and primates en- 
riched themselves ; the Prince alone sternly refused to convert 
any thing to his own use. The streets were incumbered with 
dead bodies ; even the houses wexe filled with the slain of either 
party ; while the mountaineers and ^ shepherds, accustomed to 
dwell in rocks and woods, had now established their bivouacs 
amidst the broken fragments of oriental luxury. Fires broke 
out in the town every night, and the Prince himself was burnt 
out of his quarters a few days after his arrival. The only thing 
that occupied the Greeks, was the unequal manner in which the 
spoils had been shared. Complaints were heard on every side, 
and while some wished to conceal their gains, others murmured 

* Many were the fathers and husbands, rve are told, who were drawn to 
Tripolitza for no other purpose than to be avenged for the robberies and 
nameless injuries that had been perpetrated by Turkisli troops. " The palace 
of the bey at Tripolitza, was one of those which afforded the greatest facility 
for defence to the Turks. VYhen the assault commenced, 700 of the infidels 
shut themselves up here, and continued to five on the Greeks from the win- 
dows, until the latter were obliged to set it on fire to dislodge their opponents. 
Such was the horror in which this edifice was held, that the Greek peasantry 
rased the walls to the ground, rather than suffer the sight to offend their eyes, 
and remind them of those terrific scenes of which it had been the theatre." 



MODERN GREECE. 105 

loudly at being defrauded of a fair portion. Ypsilanti's first ob- 
ject was to put an end to the great confusion that prevailed. 
He certainly succeeded in restoring some degree of order, but 
tliis was chiefly owing to the breaking up of the array, which 
gradually dispersed and melted away, carrying into the furthest - 
corners of tlie Peloponnesus those discontents and heart-burn- 
ings, the seeds of which were sown at the sacking of Tripolitza. 
There now remained only the regular troops, consisting of one 
battalion of infantry and a company of artillery, with the retinue 
of some captains ; a force scarcely sufficient to guard the Turk- 
ish prisoners. 

" The Greeks had always pointed to the reduction of this 
place as the period when disprder and anarchy were to cease, 
and to be replaced by a regularly-organised system of govern- 
ment. It had now fallen 5 but such were the difficulties op- 
posed to this most desirable object, that the event seemed only 
to have imbittered the dissensions of the leading liien. Per- 
ceivhig that his plans of melioration were opposed with scarcely 
less pertinacity than before, and that his influence was every 
day declining, Ypsilanti resolved to submit all the disputed 
points to a national congress, which was summoned to meet at 
Tripolitza. But a contagious disease, which broke out there in 
the beginning of November, spread with such rapidity, aggrava- 
ted, probably, by the great number of putrefying carcasses, that 
it was found necessary to abandon the place altogether for a 
short time. The assembly was therefore convoked at Argos, 
whither the prince repaired, to attend the deliberations." 

Ypsilanti had another object in view in going to Argos ; he 
wished to push the siege of Napoli di Romania, for which 
Colonel Voutier, a French officer, who at that time commanded 
the Greek artillery, had been actively engaged in making prepar- 
ations. A report having been spread, that that place was on 
the point of capitulating, thousands of peasants were soon col- 
lected from all quarters, attracted by the hope of sharing its 
spoils. They were, however, disappointed this time of their 
prey. On the 16th of December, an attempt was made to 
take the tov/n by escalade ; but, owing to a want of concert 
among the leaders and the misconduct of the native troops, the 
assailants were repulsed, with the loss of about thirty men in 
killed and wounded, while the scaling-ladders were earned off 
in triumph by the Turks. At Patras, too, the besiegers were 
routed by Yusuff Pasha, and Mavrokordato narrowly escaped in 
a boat. Galaxidhi, a flourishing Greek town on the coast of 
the Gulf of Corinth, had been burned by the fleet of the Cap- 
14 



106 MODERN GREECE. 

itan Pasha, at the beginning of October, when between thirty 
and forty Greek ships which were lying there, fell into the hands 
of the Turks, who, by this operation, became undisputed mas- 
ters of the Gulf. In Macedonia, the insurrection wore an 
aspect not much more promising. Cassandra, where the Chris- 
tians had strongly intrenched themselves, was taken by storm by 
the Pasha of Salonika on the 12th of November, and Mount 
Athos capitulated shortly afterwards. Such was the state of 
affairs at the close of the first campaign. 

After the check sustained at Napoli, Prince Demetrius re- 
turned to Argos, and frequent meetings of the deputies collect- 
ed from various points of the confederacy, were held at his 
• quarters. On the arrival of Mavi-okordato, however, Ypsilanti 
soon found the number of his partisans fall off ; nor could he 
conceal the jealousy and aversion with which he regarded his 
more popular rival. But his attention was now called away to 
another quarter, and he left the scene of legislation and intrigue, 
to join the troops before Corinth. Early in December, with a 
view to greater security, the Congress resolved to transfer their 
sittings to Epidaurus, in the Gulf of Egina. By the middle of 
the month, the number of representatives who had assembled 
there, exclusive of Mavrokordato and the military chiefs, 
exceeded sixty : they consisted of ecclesiastics, proprietors, 
merchants, and civilians who had for the most part received a 
liberal education in Western Europe. Their first act was to 
name a commission to draw up a political code ; and on the 1st 
of Januarys, 1822, was put forth the memorable declaration of 
Lidependence.'^ The draft of the provisional constitution-|- was 
presented at the same time ; but, ?s many of the articles re- 
quired to be discussed, it was not. promulgated till the 27th, 
when the code was solemnly proclaimed amid tlie acclamations 
of the deputies, the soldiery, and the people. 

By this legislative act, the established religion in Greece is de- 
clared to be that of the Orthodox Eastern Church, with full tol- 
eration of all other forms of worship. The government is com- 
posed of the senate and the executive power. The senators are 
to be annually chosen. The executive power is composed of 
five members, taken from the legislative body, and the president 

* " la the name of the Holy and Invisible Trinity. The Greek Nation, 
wearied by the dreadiul weight of Ottoman oppression, and resolved to break 
its yoke, though at the price of the greatest sacrifices, proclaims to day, before 
God and men, by the organ of its lawful representatives, met in a national as- 
sembly, its Independence." 

t HPOSflPINON nOAITEYMA TH2 EAAAA02. 



MODERN GREECE. 107 

and vice-president are annual officers. The judicial power, 
foi'med of eleven members, chosen by the government, is de- 
clared to be independent of both the senate and the executive. 
Civil and criminal justice is to be regulated according to the leg- 
islation of the Greek emperors ; and with respect to all mercan- 
tile affairs, the French commercial code is to have the force of 
law in Greece.* Such are the leading features of the Greek 
constitution, which, upon the whole, reflects great credit on its 
authors by its moderation and enlightened spirit.f Its grand de- 
fect is, that, in common with all republican theories, it imposes 
shackles on the executive power, scarcely compatible with an 
efficient discharge of the functions of government, more espe- 
cially under the exigencies of such a contest. J All experience 

* The Greek code referred to is known under the name of the Basilics, and 
was the work ot the emperors, Basil I., Leon the Philosopher, his son, and 
Coustantine Porphyrogenitus, his grandson. — See Gibbon, c. slviii. This code 
had not altogether ceased to be in force among the Greeks. The French 
commercial code was first established in some of the maritime towns of the 
Levant in 1S17, the permission of the Turkish Government having been ob- 
tained by purchase by tlie Greek merchants. Two Greek translations of this 
code have been published ; one at Constantinople, the other at Paris, in 1820. 

t Article 2 secures to every individual of the Christian faith, whether a na- 
tive or naturalised foreigner, an equal enjoyment of every political right ; a 
liberality which the Spanish revolutionists either did not possess or diust not 
display. Article 46 gives every periodical writer a free entry in the sitinigsof 
the legislative body ; an enactment more liberal, however, than prudent or 
convenient during a national struggle. Net only torture, but confiscation is 
abolished by Art. 99 ; and by Art. 107, the government charges itself with 
providing for the widows and orphans of those who die in deleuding their 
country. 

X " No declaration of war, nor any treaty of peace, can be made without 
the participation of the senate. In like manner, every agreement, of whatever 
nature, between the executive and a foreign power, must be previously ap- 
proved by the senate, except in the case of a very short armistice." — Art- 40. 
And even in such case, the executive is under the obligation of communicating 
it to the senate. — Art. 77 " The senate has the right of approving the mili- 
tary promotion which the government proposes." — Art. 42. " It is likewise en- 
titled to decree, on the proposal of government, the distinguished recompenses 
due to patriotic services. "-^Art. 43. " It is to settle a new system of money 
to be struck at the national mint, under the direction of government."— 
Art. 44. " The senate is expressly forbidden to accede to any transaction which 
threatens the political existence of the nation. On the contrary, if it perceives 
the executive engaged in negotiations of this nature, the senate is to prosecute 
the president, and after his condemnation, to declare his charge forfeited in 
the face of the nation." — Art. 45. By articles 63 and 64, the executive is au- 
thorised to contract loans, and to pledge the national property for them, 
" consulting the senate ;" and to alienate, under the same condition, a por- 
tion of this property according to the wants of th&' state. By Art. 83 it is pro- 
vided, that " as soon as an accusation against one of the members of the execu- 
tive is received, the accused is considered as stripped of his office," and his 
trial is to proceed. Thus, the nominal inviolability of the executive power, 
" taken collectively," (Art. 54) is completely nullified; and the senate, by re- 
serving to themselves the regal attributes of levying war, approving of military 



108 MODERN GREECE. 

proves that a state is in more danger, at such a crisis, ifrom the 
cabals of a faction, than from the ascendancy of any too-power- 
ful citizen. It had been proposed to concentrate the executive 
power in a triennial president, and to make the senate re-eligible 
every other year. The rejection of this plan discovered an 
unseasonable jealousy on the part of the national representatives ; 
and the issue has shewn, how much easier it is to frame a consti- 
tution than to create a government. Up to the present time, the 
Greeks may be said to be without a ruler, for the executive has 
not been invested with the power to rule. That power, it would 
seem, must either originate in usurpation, or in concessions made 
in the hour of public danger, by people willing to compromise 
their rights in order to obtain efficient protection. 

The office of president of the executive body was conferred 
by the congress upon Prince Mavrokordato, whose talents and 
extensive information were eminently displayed in aiding the 
commission appointed to draw up the constitution.* Demetri- 
us Ypsilanti was invited to preside over the senate, but he de- 
clined the proffered honour, having, it is supposed, conceived 
himself to be entitled to fill the highest station ; and the office 
was bestowed on Petro Bey Mavromikhali. The other 
members of the central government were Athanasius Canacari, 
vice-president, Anagnosti Pappaiannbpoulo, John Orlando, and 
John Logotheti. Theodore Negri was appointed first secretary 
of state. 

While the legislators of Epidaurus were thus occupied in 
organising a system of government, Ypsilanti was ineffectually 
endeavouring to obtain possession of Corinth by negotiation with 
the garrison. On this occasion he does not appear to have dis- 
played either much address or much penetration. He had 
relied on the services of Kiamil Bey, a rich Turk, whose family 
had for nearly a century governed the disti'ict, but who, on the 
fall of Tripolitza, had affected to espouse the Greek cause, and 
had promised to induce the garrison to surrender. The cun- 
ning Moslem, aware of the preparations which Khourshid Pasha 
was making in Epirus, shewed little disposition to fulfil his en- 
gagement. At length, his equivocal conduct having drawn vio- 

promotion, and settling the mintage, is, in fact, the fountain of honour as well 
as the depositary of all real power. 

* Mavrokordato's name is affixed to the provisional constitution as Presi- 
dent of the Congress. Then follow the names of Adam Douka (Ducas), Athan. 
Canacaris, Alexander Naxius, Alexis Zimpouropoulo, and fiffy-four others, 
among which occur those of Germanus, Archbishop of Fatras, the bishops of 
Litza and Agrafa, Toumbosi, and Talantium, Th. Negri, J. Logotlieti, J. Or- 
hindo, Petrobey Mavromikhali, J. Coletti, &;c. 



MODERN GREECE. 109 

lent threats from Kolokotroni and the other chiefs, he Avrote a 
letter to his wife and mother, commanding them to capitulate to 
the Greeks, while he found means of secretly apprising them of 
his real hopes and wishes. But the arrival of Panouria of Sa- 
lona, a popular armatole captain, gave a new turn to affairs. 
" Having reproached the chiefs and soldiery with their inactivi- 
ty, Panouria suggested various projects by which the Acro-Cor- 
intlius might be carried ; finding, however, but little disposition 
to adopt them, he determined to open a communication with the 
Albanian portion of the garrison. This plan succeeded so well, 
that a treaty was concluded, by which they consented to with- 
draw, on condition of being allowed to return home with their 
arms and a gratification in money. These terms being readily 
granted, they descended from the citadel, to the number of two 
hundred, on the 22d of January ; and having been escorted to 
the beach, were embarked in boats, wliich transported them to 
the opposite shore of the Gulf. The retirement of the Albani- 
ans having removed all further hope of holding out on the part 
of the Turks, they also declared themselves ready to capitulate. 
Such, however, was the altered state of things, that they were 
now obliged to accept the terms granted by the besiegers. It 
was then agreed, that the garrison should lay down their arras, 
and be conveyed to the coast of Asia Minor, in transports pro- 
vided by the Government of Greece. The first part of these 
conditions was carried into effect on the 26th, and preparations 
were made to execute the second, which was also fulfilled to a 
certain extent ; but, owing to a delay in the arrival of transports, 
the peasants, who had been exposed to the innumerable exac- 
tions and oppressive acts of Kiamil Bey, rushed into the citadel, 
and gratified their irresistible thirst for revenge on many of the 
Turks. The conduct of Ypsilanti on tliis, as on every former 
occasion, was marked by the greatest humanity ; and though 
his interposition could not entirely prevent the effervescence of 
popular feeling, it soon had the effect of calming the passions 
of the multitude."* 

On the 27th of February, the newly-constituted executive, and 
the senate of Epidaurus, proceeded to take advantage of the fall 
of this important military position, by transferring thither the seat 
of government. Here, on the 31st of March, the President is- 
sued the declaration of blockade which gave so much um- 
brage to the Christian powers in alliance with the Porte. This 
was followed up by a spu'ited but unavailing appeal to the pow- 
ers of Christendom, dated Corinth, April 15, 1822. Nor did 

* Blaquiere, pp. 181 — 3. 



110 MODERN GREECE. 

Movrokordato confine his exertions to such measures as these. 
He went in person to Hydra, to urge on the islanders the neces- 
sity of sending divisions of the fleet towards the Dardanelles and 
the Gulf of Lepanto ; and on his return, a system of order and 
activity commenced, which had hitherto been unknown in the 
confederacy. With a view to make a beginning in the organisation 
of the army, a corps was formed, officered chiefly by Euro- 
pean volunteers, which was to be styled the first regiment of 
the line. There being, however, a much larger number of 
these than vvas required, the remainder were embodied into a 
second corps, which assumed the name of Philhellenes. The 
organisation and command of the regular troops were intrusted 
to General Normann, a German officer who had recently arrived 
from Marseilles with a number of volunteers. Ypsilanti, having 
declined the presidency of the legislative body, and renounced 
the assumed tide of generalissimo, joined a detachment of 
troops headed by Niketas, which was destined to watch the mo- 
tions of the enemy at Zetouni. A second corps of 3000 men 
was sent to re-establish the blockade of Patras under Koloko- 
troni ; and a smaller body of troops was detached to Athens, 
under the French Colonel Voutier, in order to reduce the 
Acropolis. The force before Napoli di Romania was also 
strengthened, and the garrisons of Modon and Koron continued 
to be closely invested by the armed peasantry. 

The critical posture of affairs called, indeed, for the most 
energetic measures, and the situation of the President was any 
thing rather than enviable. The cause of Grecian liberty ap- 
peared to most persons at this time little better than desperate. 
" On one side," remarks Col. Leake, " w&s a power larger in 
extent of territory than any in Europe, which had maintained 
its station, for nearly four centuries, in one of the most com- 
manding positions in the world ; whose integrity was admitted 
by all the other great powers to be essential to the general 
peace ; ready, by the nature of its government, to enter upon 
war at a short notice, and furnished with all the fiscal, mili- 
tary, and naval establishments of a monarchy of long stand- 
ing. On tlie other, were the inhabitants of a small pi'ovince 
of this extensive empire, without any central authority, with- 
out cavalry, artillery, magazines, hospitals, or military chest ; 
whose whole military force, in short, consisted only of a rude, 
undisciplined infantry, armed with an awkward long musket, 
to which was added, according to the circumstances of the 
individual, pistols, a dagger, or a sword, — ignorant of the 
use of the bayonet, acknowledging no discipline, and more 



MODERN GKEECB. HI 

uninstructed In war as an art, than the Greeks of the heroic 
ages, — led, indeed, by men possessing courage and enterprise, 
and some of the essential qualifications of command, but who 
were scarcely less ignorant and unenlightened than their sol- 
diers, and too selfish to loose any opportunity of enriching them- 
selves, or to preserve that harmony with the other leading men, 
which was so necessary in tlie dangerous position of the country." 

The fall and death of Ali Pasha of loannina, had placed at 
the disposal of Khourshid Pasha such abundant resources, both 
in men and money, that had his plans been carried into execu- 
tion with an ordinaiy portion oi skill, they must have led to the 
destruction of the Greek cause. The conquest of loannina had 
put into die hands of the Turks the strongest and most important 
point in Western Greece, while the possession of Arta, Prevesa, 
and Vonitza, gave them the command of Acarnania, and the 
whole level on the northern side of the Ambracic Gulf. The 
surrender of Corinth might in some measure have counterbal- 
anced these advantages, had the Greeks known how to turn it to 
account ; and a circumstance still more in their favour, was the 
hostilities that had broken out on the Persian frontier, which gave 
the Asiatic Turks an excuse, at least, for keeping their contin- 
gents at home. Neither of these circumstances, however, had 
much influence in determining the successful issue of the second 
campaign. 

The commencement of the campaign of 1822 was marked by 
one of the most atrocious and tragical exhibitions of Turkish 
vengeance and cruelty that are recorded in the annals of barba- 
rian conquest ; the scene of the catastrophe was the once fertile 
and flourisliing island of Scio. The details we give in the words 
of Mr. Blaquiere. 

" The people of Scio had been remarkable for their peacea- 
ble habits and quiet submission to the Porte, ever since the cap- 
ture of Constantinople ; and although the inhabitants of a spot 
where education had made such rapid progress, could not be 
less interested in the regeneradon of Greece than the rest of 
their countrymen, yet were there many causes to prevent them 
from taking any part in the revolt when it first broke out. The 
commercial relations of the island were more complicated and 
extensive than those of any other part of the confederation ; 
there being scarcely a capital of Europe without some establish- 
ments kept by Sciot merchants, while a very large portion 
of their wealth was locked up at Constantinople and Smyrna, 
the trade between these two cities being almost exclusively con- 
ducted by them. Possessing such ample means of ministering 



112 MODERN GREEC?:. 

to the avarice of their tyrants, the civil government had long 
been confided to the elders, whose adnainistration was of the 
most paternal description. What with its palaces, country- 
houses and gardens, its colleges and general state of improve- 
ment, Scio presented so striking a contrast to the other islands of 
the Archipelago, that travellers could hardly be persuaded it was 
under the same dominion. No wonder, therefore, that such a 
picture of happiness and prosperity should have excited the 
hatred and jealousy of the infidels. 

" Occupied in their commercial pursuits, or in promoting the 
cultivation of learning and science, there was no attempt what- 
ever made to participate in the revohition ; so that the island re- 
mained perfectly tranquil until the beginning of May, 1821, when 
the appearance of a small squadron of Ipsariots off the coast, 
furnished the aga, or military governor, \vith a pretence for com- 
mencing the same system of intolerable violence which had been 
already extended to Mytilene, Rhodes and Cyprus. One of the 
first measures now adopted, was that of seizing forty of the 
elders and bishops, who were shut up in the castle as hostages 
for the good conduct of the people. A large body of troops 
were brought from the neighbouring coast of Asia Minor ; and, 
as in the other islands, the arrival of these lawless hordes was 
attended with every species of irregularity and excess. Li addi- 
tion to numerous assassinations, and plundering the most wealthy 
inhabitants, all the provisions that could be found were seized for 
the use of the garrison, while new imposts were levied to pay the 
troops and the pasha who had led them to the island. It was 
not until Scio had been during a whole year exposed to a sys- 
tem like the above, and when it seemed impossible any longer to 
bear up agamst it, that an attempt was made to rouse the people 
to resistance. Totally unprovided,' however, as were the peas- 
antry, either with arms or leaders, there is no doubt but they 
would have continued to suffer all the evils of tlieir situation, had 
it not been for two adventurers named Burnia and Logotheti, 
who, without any previous communication with the Provision^ 
Government, and merely to gratify views of personal ambition, 
concerted a plan of revolt. Landing from Samos on the 17th 
and 18th of March, at different points of the island, with a very 
small number of followers, they called upon the people to join 
them. Aware of the disastrous consequences which must fol- 
low this unexpected descent, the elders who were still at large, 
made every effort to prevent the peasantry from taking any part 
in the insurrection. In the meanwhile, a strong detachment of 
cavalry was sent out by the Pasha to oppose the Greeks, and on 



MODERN GREECE. 113 

the 22d, the number of hostages aheady in the citadel was doub- 
led, the victims being selected from the most opulent and distin- 
guished inhabitants. Hearing, on the following day, that anoth- 
er body of men had landed fi-om Samos, the Pasha sent to 
ascertain whether tiiey had been joined by the peasantry, and 
on his being assured that they had not, a considerable force was 
ordered to march against them. 

" The Turks set forward for this purpose, but, on perceiving 
that the Greeks were determined to resist, they immediately re- 
treated towards the town, pursued by the insurgents, till they 
were at length forced to shut themselves up in the castle ; thus 
leaving the Greeks in full possession of the open country. En- 
couraged by their success, Burnia and Logotheti appealed once 
more to the people ; and as matters had now gone so far that 
it was impossible to retrograde, a few hundred peasants flocked 
to their standard, many of these being merely provided with 
sticks for their defence. Although the elders and primates who 
had not been imprisoned, continued to remonstrate against the 
conduct of Burnia and his coadjutor, they now saw the necessity 
of acceding to the entreaties of all parties, that a local govern- 
ment should be established. A junta of twelve persons being 
named for this purpose, they began to make various requisitions, 
and to organise the means of securing the advantage which had 
been already achieved. It w^as, however, soon discovered, that 
tiiere w^ere really no means of arming the people to any extent, and 
that the expedition was itself but badly armed, as well as totally 
unprovided with cannon. Convinced, on the other hand, that 
miion and perseverance could alone save them, several plans of 
organisation were adopted ; and had the Greek fleet anticipated 
the arrival of the pasha, there was every reason to hope the in- 
habitants would have been enabled to prevent the catastrophe 
which followed his appearance. This event took place on the 
23d of April, when a fleet of fifty sail, including five of the line, 
anchored in the bay, and immediately began to bombard the 
town, wliile several thousand troops were landed under the guns 
of the citadel, wliich also opened a heavy fire on the Greeks. 
It was in vain for the islanders to make any resistance : deserted 
by the Samians, most of whom embarked and sailed away when 
the Turkish fleet hove in sight, they were easily overpowered 
and obliged to flee. From this moment, until the last direful 
act, Scio, lately an object of so great admiration to strangers, 
presented one continued scene of horror and dismay. Having 
massacred every soul, whether men, women, or children, whom 
they found in the town, the Turks first plundered and then set 
15 



114 MODERN GREECE. 

fire to it, watching the flames until not a house was left, except 
those of the foreign consuls. Three days had, however, been 
suffered to pass, before the infidels ventured to penetrate into 
the interior of the island, and even then, their excesses were con- 
fined to the low grounds. But there was ample scope on these, 
for gratifying their thirst for Christian blood. An eye-witness, 
who escaped as it were by a miracle, thus expressed himself in 
a letter to a friend : ' O God ! what a spectacle did Scio present 
on this lamentable occasion ! On whatever side I cast my eyes, 
nothing but pillage, murder, and conflagration appeared. While 
some were occupied in plundering the villas of rich merchants, 
and others in setting fire to the villages, the air was rent with the 
mingled groans of men, women, and children, who were falling 
under the swords and daggers of die infidels. The only excep- 
tion made during the massacre, was in favour of young women 
and boys, who were preserved only to be afterwards sold as 
slaves. Many of the former, whose husbands had been butch- 
ered, were running to and fro frantic, with torn garments and 
dishevelled hair, pressing their trembling infants to their breasts, 
and seeking death as a relief from the still greater calamities that 
awaited them." 

" Above 40,000 of both sexes had already either fallen vic- 
tims to the sword, or been selected for sale in tlie bazars, when 
it occurred to the Pasha, that no time should be lost in persuading 
those who had fled to the more inaccessible parts of the island, 
to lay down their arms and submit. It bemg impossible to 
effect tJiis by force, they had recourse to a favourite expedient 
with Mussulmen, that of proclaiming an amnesty. In order 
that no doubt should be entertained of their sincerity, the for- 
eign consuls, more particularly those of England, France and 
Austria, were called upon to guarantee the promises of the 
Turks : they accordingly went forth, and invited the unfortu- 
nate peasantry to give up their arms and return. Notwithstand- 
ing their long experience of Turkish perfidy, the solemn pledge 
given by the consuls at length prevailed, and many thousands, 
who might have successfully resisted until succours arrived, were 
sacrificed ; for no sooner did they descend from the heights, and 
give up their arms, than the infidels, totally unmindful of the 
proffered pardon, put them to death without mercy. The num- 
ber of persons of every age and sex who became the victims of 
this perfidious act, was estimated at 7000. 

" After having devoted ten days to the work of slaughter, it 
was natural to suppose that the monsters who directed this 
frightful tragedy would have been in some degree satiated by 



MODERN GREECE. 115 

the blood of so many innocent victims ; but it was when the 
excesses had begun to diminish on the part of the soldiery, that 
fresh scenes of horror were exhibited on board the fleet and in 
tlie citadel. In addition to the women and children embarked 
for the purpose of being conveyed to the markets of Constanti- 
nople and Smyrna, several hundreds of the natives were also 
seized, and among these, all the gardeners of the island, who 
were supposed to know where the treasures of their employers 
had been concealed. No fewer than 500 of the persons thus 
collected were hung on board the different ships. When these 
executions commenced, they served as a signal to the command- 
ant of the citadel, who immediately followed the example, by 
suspending the whole of the hostages, to the number of seventy- 
six, on gibbets erected for tlie occasion. With respect to the 
numbers who were either killed or consigned to slavery, during 
the three weeks that followed the arrival of the Capitan Pasha, 
there is no exaggeration in rating the former at 25,000 souls. 
It has been ascertained that above 30,000 women and children 
were condemned to slavery, while the fate of those who es- 
caped was scarcely less calamitous. Though many contrived 
to get off in open boats, or such other vessels as they could pro- 
cure, thousands who were unable to do so, wandered about the 
mountains, or concealed themselves in caves, without food or 
clothing, for many days after the massacre had begun to subside 
on the plains. Among those who had availed themselves of the 
pretended amnesty, many families took refuge in the houses of 
the consuls, who were indeed bound by every tie of honour and 
humanity to afford them protection. It has, however, been 
asserted, upon authority which cannot well be doubted, that 
the wi'etched beings thus saved from Mussulman vengeance, 
were obliged to pay large ransoms before they could leave 
the island ; nay, more, numbers of those who escaped the 
massacre affirm, that it was extremely difficult to obtain even 
temporary protection under the Christian flags, without first 
gratifying the avaricious demands of those who conceived this 
appalling event a legitimate object of mercantile speculation. 

" As the massacre of Scio furnishes the best occasion present- 
ed by the war, to establish a comparison between the conduct of 
the Greeks and their inexorable masters, it is of consequence to 
prove, that so far from the atrocities in that devoted island hav- 
ing been the result of those excesses in which a soldiery, irritated 
by previous resistance and sufferings, have so frequently in- 
dulged, they originated in the cool and deliberate councils of 
the divan. With respect to the provocations given by the 



116 MODERN GREECIJ. 

Sciots, their fidelity to the Porte had never been suspected be- 
fore the revolution ; and it has been ascertained beyond contra- 
diction, that the number of those who joined the expedition from 
Saraos did not exceed 2000 ; while it is equally true, that the 
whole loss of the Turks during the ephemeral conflict did not 
amount to 300, and these fell in the skirmishes which took place 
between the opposing parties, as there was no instance of gra- 
tuitous cruelty on the part of the Greeks. The readiness with 
which the elders and primates gave themselves up as hostages, 
and their efforts to prevent the peasantry from joining Burnia and 
Logotheti, afford ample proof of their perfect innocence. Yet, 
it was under all these circumstances, that a population of more 
than 100,000 souls was doomed to general destruction ; not by 
an unbridled and undisciplined soldiery, stimulated by the oppo- 
sition and privations attendant on a long siege, but by a positive 
order from a sovereign and government, whose legitimacy had 
been solemnly proclaimed by the Christian potentates assembled 
at Laybach and Verona. That the whole of this terrific drama - 
had been got up at Constantinople, a variety of concurrent cir- 
cumstances tend to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt. 
When the messenger who announced the descent from Samos 
reached the capital, it was decided in full divan, that the Capi- 
tan Pasha, whose preparations were still incomplete, should sail 
with all possible despatch, and take such measures with the 
people of Scio as would effectually prevent their joining the con- 
federation. All the most opulent Sciot merchants resident in 
the capital, were at the same time seized and thrown into prison 
as hostages. The fate of these unfortunate persons leaves no 
room whatever to doubt that the proceedings at Scio were fully 
approved of at Constantinople ; for it was immediately after the 
arrival of the Capitan Pasha in the former place, and when the 
steps he had taken must have been known, that the whole of 
them were impaled alive by a mandate from the Sultan himself. 
" Thousands of the Sciot women, remarkable throughout the 
Archipelago for their grace and beauty, continued to be exposed 
for sale, both in the island and at SmjTua and Constantinople, 
for several months after the massacre.* After detailing such 
scenes as these, it becomes a matter of trifling import to state, 

* " On the 13th of May was the first arrival (at Constantinople) of slaves 
from that devoted island ; and on the 18th, sixteen most respectable mer- 
chants, resident at Constantinople, but who were guilty of having been born 
at Scio, were executed. Three of these persons were by the Turks called 
hostao;es, which means, that they were persons of influence and character, 
who had been seized by the government, and by it made responsible for the 
conduct of their countrymen. The continued sale of the Sciot captives led to 



MODERN GREECE. 117 

tliat the finest modern Greek library in existence, comprising 
above 60,000 volumes, was completely destroyed during the 
eonHagration. 

" Of all the errors laid to the charge of the naval chiefs of 
Greece, their delay in coming to the relief of Scio is unques- 
tionably the best founded, as it is most to be lamented. This 
omission is doubly to be deplored, when it is considered, that the 
appearance of a squadron simultaneously with the Capitan 
Pasha, would have paralysed his operations and encouraged the 
inhabitants to greater resistance. Had the fleet arrived even 
after the slaughter had commenced, there is every reason to be- 
lieve, that a few well-directed fire-ships could not have failed 
taking effect on the Turkish ships, a great part of whose crews 
were employed in aiding to perpetrate the massacre on shore. 
From whatever cause it arose, the fleet did not arrive until the 
last week in May, when the catastrophe was ah-eady consummat- 
ed. Tombasi, the Hydriot admiral who commanded, had, 
however, the satisfaction of saving a great number of both 
sexes, who succeeded in escaping to the mountains."* 

the commission of daily brutalities. On June the 19th, an order came down 
to the slave market for its cessation ; and the circumstances which are be- 
lieved to have occasioned that order, are extremely singular and purely Ori- 
ental. The island of Scio had been granted many years ago to one of the sul- 
tanas, as an appropriation, from which she derived a fixed revenue and a title 
of interference in all matters relating to police and internal administration. 
The present patroness was Asnia Sultana, sister of the sultan ; and that amia- 
ble princess received about 200,000 piastres a year, besides casual presents, 
from her flourishing little province. When she was int'ormed of its destruc- 
tion, her indignation was natural and excessive ; and it was directed, of 
course, against Valid, the pasha vrho commanded the fort, and the capudan 
pasha, to whose misconduct she chiefly attributed her misfortune. It w.is in 
vain that that officer selected from his captives sixty young and beautiful 
maidens, whom he presented to the service of her highness. She rejected the 
sacrifice with disdain, and continued her energetic remonstrances against the 
injustice and illegality of reducing rayalis to slavery, and exposing them for 
sale in the public markets. The sultan at length yielded to her eloquence or 
importunity. A license, the occasion of hourly brutalities, was suppressed ; 
and we have the satisfaction of believing, that this act of rare and unprece- 
dented humanity may be attributed to the influence of a woman." — Wadding- 
ton's Visit to Greece, p. 19. It is humiliating to reflect, that all this while, a 
British ambassador remained the passive and unconcerned spectator of these 
enormities ; and that Lord Londonderry, in answer to a question put to him 
in the House of Commons by the member for Norwich, coolly replied, that " a 
calamity had occurred, which had arisen out of the peculiar acts of barbarity 
perpetrated on both sides." 

* Blaquiere, pp. 188 — 200. Mr. Leeves, agent to the British and Foreign 
Bible Society, visited Scio in the September following, and he thus describes the 
scene which it then presented : " Melancholy and utter desolation has befallen 
this beautiful and once flourishing island. I could not have conceived, with- 
out being an e3'e-witness, that destruction could have been rendered so com- 
plete. We walked through the town, which was handsome and built entirely 



118 MODERN GREECE. 

The situation of those who succeeded in getting to Ipsara 
was most deplorable. There were no means of providing for 
their wants in that island, and thousands were obliged to sleep 
in the open air till they could obtain a passage to some other 
part. 

Being now joined by an Ipsariot squadron, Tombasi resolved 
to make an attempt on the Turkish squadron ; but a gale of wind 
separated the fleets, and the sailing of an Egyptian squadron for 
the relief of Candia compelled him to proceed toward that 
island. Shortly after his departure, Miaulis, the Hydriot admi- 
ral, who remained off this station, detached two fire-vessels, with 
directions to keep near the shore, as if they were merchant-ships 
bound to Smyrna. By this stratagem they were enabled to sail 
by night into the midst of the Turkish fleet anchored in the 
Scio roads, before they were discovered, and to attach them- 
selves to two of the largest Turkish line of battle ships. One 
of these contrived to disengage herself without much damage ; 
but the fire-vessel commanded by the intrepid Canaris took full 
effect on the ship of the Capitan Pasha, who was destroyed, 
with nearly the whole of his crew.* The ship was loaded with 
the spoils of Scio, and it is feared that many Greek women and 
children perished in her. 

of stone, and found the houses, the churches, the hospitals, the extensive col- 
lege, where, a few months ago, 600 or 700 youths were receiving their educa- 
tion, one mass of ruins. On every side vi^ere strewed fragments of half-burned 
books, manuscripts, clothes, and furniture ; and, what was most shocking to 
the feelings, numerous human bodies were mouldering on the spot where they 
fell. Nothing that had life was to be seen, but a few miserable half-starved 
dogs and cats. The villages have shared the same fate ; and of a population 
of 130,000 Greeks, there remain, perhaps, 800 or 1000 individuals scattered 
through the most distant villages. In the town, nothing has escaped but the 
consuls' houses and a very few immediately adjoining them, which could not be 
burned without burning the consulates. From the painful sight of these dread- 
ful effects of unbridled human passions, we were a little refreshed by visiting, in 
the afternoon, the country-house of the British vice-consul, Signor Giudice, 
wiio, during the sack of Scio, humanely received all the unfortunate creatures 
who fled to him for protection, and has redeemed many others from slavery. 
He has a little colony of 207 Sciots, chiefly women and children, hutted in his 
garden and premises, whom he feeds at his own expense, and who, under the 
British flag, have found protection amidst the wreck of their country. There 
are similar establishments in some of the other European consulates Their 
food, at present, consists chiefly of the figs and grapes, which are now common 
property, there being no hands to gather in the fruits of the soil ; but, as this sup- 
plv will soon fail, we have, since our return, commenced a subscription among 
the English residents at Constantinople, who have been ever ready to meet simi- 
lar calls upon their charity during this calamitous period, in order to send 
them a supply of biscuit and flour for the winter months. — Miss. Reg., Jan. 
1823, p. 19. 

" The Capitan Pasha was killed by the fall of a mast in endeavouring to 
reach the shore with the very small portion of the ship's company which es- 
caped destruction. This took place on the 18th of June. 



MODERN GREECE. 119 

So great was the effect of this exploit in confirming the fears 
which the Turks ah-eady entertained of the Greek fire-ships, 
tliat they durst not venture into the narrow extremity of the Ar- 
golic Gulf, either in proceeding to Patras or in returning thence ; 
although tlie success of their ai'my, which was then entering the 
Morea, and tlie safety of Napoli di Romania, depended on their 
co-operation. The whole plan of the campaign on the part of the 
Turks was thus completely deranged by one bold and fortunate 
achievement, wliich tended powerfully to establish the character 
antl confidence of the Greek Islanders. Nor were the dreadful 
transactions at Scio unattended by beneficial consequences : they 
superinduced upon the other motives to exertion, a general con- 
viction among the Greeks, that there was henceforth no safety 
but in tlie success of their arms. 

Li the mean time, Mavrokordato, perceiving the importance 
of diverting the attention of the Greeks from the Morea, resolv- 
ed on an expedition into Western Greece, having persuaded his 
colleagues to consent to his assuming the direction of affairs in 
tliat quarter. His plan was excellent, and, had he been effi- 
ciently supported, might have been productive of most important 
advantages ; but his absenting himself at such a crisis from the 
seat of government, was scarcely justifiable, since, by weaken- 
ing the executive, it greatly contributed to favour the growth of 
dissension and msubordination.* The expedition was to have 
been joined by 1,500 men from the army before Patras; but 
Kolokotroni objected to parting with any of his troops, so that 
Mavrokordato arrived at Messolonglii in May, with only the 
battalion of Philhellenes (about 100 in number), the regiment of 
regulars (of 600 men), commanded by a Piedmontese, a small 
body of Suliots under Marko Botzari, and a few other armatoli. 
His first object was the relief of Suli, in which he was assisted by 
a body of Mainotes under Kiriakouli, the brother of Petro-bey. 
Having collected all the troops he could find at Messolonghi, 
Mavrokordato's whole force did not amount to 2000 men, being 
less than half the number at first proposed. With this force, 
however, he took the field, and having passed the Acheron to- 
wards the latter end of June, he proceeded through Loutraki' fit 
towards the defiles of Makrinoros. At Komboti, near where 
the pass opens into the plain of Arta, several skirmishes took 
place with the Turkish cavalry, who were posted there in far 
superior force, but were uniformly beaten off by the Greeks. 

* To his assumption of the military character on this occasion, Mr. Wad- 
dington ascribes the subsequent decline of his influence ; and his absence from 
the Morea enabled Negri and others to intrigue against him with success. 



120 MODERN GREECE. 

Too much elated by these successes, the Prince rashly consented 
to allow Botzari to proceed with 600 men to relieve KiafFa ', and 
while the main body under General Normann advanced to the 
village of Peta, Mavrokordato left the army, to raise levies and 
supplies in the neighbouring districts. The imprudence of thus 
dividing their force, already so much inferior to that of the ene- 
my, was soon apparent. Botzari, being met at Plaka by some 
Turkish troops, was compelled to retreat to the mountains ; and 
the treachery of an old captain of armatoli from Athamania, 
named Gogo, ruined the expedition. In the midst of a general 
attack from the Turco-Albanian forces at Arta, this coward, or 
traitor, to whom the key of the position of Peta iiad been en- 
trusted, basely fled with all his followers, thus enabling the ene- 
my to turn the flank of the Greeks, and to destroy or disperse 
their little army. Of 200 who were slain on the part of the 
Greeks, nearly one-fourth were officers, and General Normann, 
who was wounded, with difficulty escaped. The panic spread 
by this defeat was increased by the arrival of the Capitan Pa- 
sha's fleet at Patras, and by the report that Mahmoud Pasha had 
reconquered the Morea. The greater part of the population 
betook themselves to the mountains, while a considerable number 
of the more helpless part of the community sought refuge in the, 
desert island of Kalamos, from which place they were harshly 
expelled by order of the Ionian Government, on the pretence 
of maintaining the system of neutrality.* It was not long be- 
fore tidings of a more favourable nature from the Peninsula, 
together with the retreat of the Turkish fleet from the western 
coast, revived the hopes of the Greeks. But the leader of the 
Mainotes having been slain near Suli, the Suliots, reduced to the 
utmost distress, and despairing of succour, were glad to accept 
of British mediation,! and to give up the castle of KiafFa, on 
condition of being transported to Cefalonia. 

Mavrokordato preserved for some time his positions in Acar- 
nania; till, towards the close of September, the defection of 
another chieftain of armatoli, named Vernachiotti, obliged him 
to give up all the country westward of the Achelous, and to re- 

* " As those who took refuge in Calamos consisted almost exclusively of 
old men, women, and children, it was not thought likely that their presence on 
a desolate rock, which had not been thought of sufficient importance to require 
even a military post before the present contest, could tend in any way to vio- 
late the neutrality ; while the wretched condition of the fugitives, without 
food or raiment, was such as to excite pity and commiseration in the most ob- 
durate heart." — Blaquiere, p. 236. 

t The British Consul at Prevesa, Mr. Meyer, was the individual to whose 
mediation they were indebted, and who guaranteed theii safe transport to the 
Ionian Islands, with their arms and baggage. 



MODERN GREECE. 121 

tire before an overwhelming force headed by Omer Vrioni, the 
new Paslia of loannina, and the bravest general in the Ottoman 
army. By the middle of October, alter some attempts to de- 
fend' the strong approaches to the jEtolian lagoons, the remnant 
of the Greek forces were invested by land and by sea in the penin- 
sula of JMissolonghi and the island of Anatolico, while all the 
inhabitants who had the means of escaping, retired into the ad- 
jacent islands or the Morea.' ♦ 

" The town of Missolonghi " (we cite Mr. Blaquiere) " is 
built on a perfect flat, and though its walls are washed by an arm 
of the sea, the water is so shallow, as not to admit the approach 
of any vessel larger than fishing-boats, nearer than four or five 
miles. Its fortifications consisted of nothing more than a low 
wall witliout bastions, and surrounded with a ditch seven feet 
wide, by four in depth, and filled up with rubbish in many places. 
The pai'apet, which did not rise more than three feet above the 
counterscarp, was formed of loose stones, very much out of re- 
pair, and broken down in a number of places. Although the 
defence of tliis extensive line would require above 3000 men, 
the whole number of combatants whom the Prince had nov/ with 
him, including those found in the town, did not amount to 500. 
The only cannon to be found within the walls, were four old ship 
guns and a dismounted thirty-six pounder. As to ammunition, 
there was not sufficient for a month's siege, and with the ex- 
ception of maize, every kind of provisions v/as extremely scarce. 
It was in a place thus destitute and exposed, that Mavrocordato 
and his followers formed the resolution of making a stand against 
an army of 14,000 men. For this purpose, not a moment was 
lost in repairing the wall and clearing the ditch, a work in which 
even the women were employed : the guns being placed in the 
most commanding points, all the houses built near the parapet 
were pierced with loop-holes, from which a fire of musketry 
could be kept up. In order to deceive the enemy as to their 
numbers, a quantity of bayonets found in the town, being made 
bright, were attached to poles, and arranged round the walls. 
When the President quitted Anatolico, it was agreed that Marco 
Botzaris should occupy the passes through which the enemy 
would be likely to advance, between that place and the sea. 
The temporary occupation of this point enabled the Greeks to 
drive a quanfit}" of catde into Missolonghi. They were, how- 
ever, obliged to retu'e in two days ; upon which, Botzaris, fol- 
lowed by a small detachment of Suliots, succeeded in reaching 
the town, all the rest ha^ing dispersed among the mountains. A 
large division of the Turkish army appeared before the walls 
16 , 



122 MODERN GREECE. 

two days after, and immediately commenced a cannonade and 
fire of musketry, which continued with little intermission until 
the next day, when it was only suspended to propose a capitula- 
tion.* Profiting by the stupidity of the enemy in not attempt- 
ing an attack, which must have ended in the total destruction of 
the Greeks, Mavrocordato, whose only chance of safety depend- 
ed on gaining time till succours were sent, replied in such a way 
as to make Omer Vrioni imagine that his proposal would be 
accepted. Though these negotiations were frequently interrupt- 
ed by the renewal of the enemy's fire, they enabled the Qreeks 
to make considerable progress in their preparations for defence : 
such, however, was the total inadequacy of means and resources, 
that there seemed to be no hope of escape. Matters went on 
in this state of painful suspense, until the morning of the 9th of 

%%■ November, when the Turldsh brig and schooner, which had 
been sent to blockade the place by YussufF Pasha, were observ- 
ed to steer towards Patras : but the former, being unable to 
reach the roadstead, owing to a strong southerly wind, bore up 
and stood for Ithaca, chased by six vessels, on board of which the 
Greek flag was seen flying. The ships were followed by the 
eager eyes of the Prince and his brave followers until night 
closed in, and they were once more left to ruminate on the perils 

' of their situation. Although the appearance of this small squad- 
ron filled every breast with hope, yet, a vigorous attack during 
the night might enable the infidels to render all opposition fruit- 
less : as it fortunately happened, no attempt was made, and their 
joy may be readily conceived on the return of daylight, to per- 
ceive the whole of the Greek squadron anchored as near the 
town as it could be approached. Having chased the Turkish 
brig until she was run on the rocks of Ithaca by her crew, the 
Greek commodore came to announce that a body of Peloponne- 
sians were ready for embarkation at Chiarenza and Katakolo, 
destined for the relief of Missolonghi. A part of the ships 
were despatched on the following day for these most acceptable 
auxiliaries, and the remainder were joined by four Ipsariot 
vessels, thus forming a naval force which was of itself calculated 
greatly to diminish the hopes of the enemy. The long wished- 
for succours arrived on the 14th : they consisted of 1,200 men, 
headed by Mavromichalis, who was accompanied by Andreas 
Lundo of Vostizza, and Deligianapulo, both distinguished Mai- 
note chiefs. These troops, having formed part of the army 

* " One of the articles contained in this proposal, required that Mavrocor- 
dato and about twenty others, whose names were mentioned, should be given 
up, as a preliminary to any negotiation in favour of tlie garrison." 



MODERN GREECE. 123 

whicli had partaken in the victories gained on the plain of Argos, 
and before Na[)oli di Romania, were flushed with the recollec- 
tion of dieir recent successes, and could not brook the thought 
of remaining shut up within the walls of Missolonghi. A sortie 
was accordingly made on the 27th November, in which 110 
Turks were lelt dead on the plain, while the loss of the Greeks 
did not amount to more than twenty in killed and wounded. 

" Such were the cruelties and excesses which followed the 
arrival of the infidel army in Acarnania and Etolia, that no soon- 
er had the peasantry recovered from their consternation, than all 
those who had been able to retain their arms, rose, and greatly 
harassed the Turks, by interrupting their communications and 
preventing the arrival of any supplies. In order to second these 
efforts of the people, it was determined that a part of the troops 
sent from the Morea should embark, and landing at Dragomeste, 
co-operate with the inhabitants of Valtos and Xeromeros, for the 
purpose of re-occupying the defiles, and thus effectually cut off 
the enemy's communicadon with Arta and Vonitza. The com- 
mand of this expedition was assumed by Ma\Tomichalis, who 
sailed for his destination on the .24th of December. His de- 
parture reduced the garrison so much, that Omer Vrioni, who 
had remained for two months without attempting an assault, now 
determined to take advantage of this circumstance. Knowing 
also that Christmas day was generally passed by the Greeks in 
the performance of religious rites which would give them full 
occupation, he had an additional motive for carrying his design 
into execution at once. Aware, from the movements of the 
Turkish camp, that something was in agitation, Mavrocordato, 
Botzaris, and the other chiefs, held a council of war, at which it 
was decided that every body should be on the alert during the 
night ; and contrary to the usual custom, the church bells were 
not to be rung, lest the noise might prevent a knowledge of 
what passed close to the walls. Both Mavrocordato and the 
other leaders continued to visit all the posts, so as to prevent 
surprise, and to give the necessary directions in case of an 
attack. 

" The plan of the Turks was to send eight hundred picked 
men \vith scaling-ladders to the weakest point ; these were to 
be followed by two thousand more, intended to draw off the at- 
tention of the Greeks, and induce them to quit their posts while 
the first party entered the town. Other divisions of the enemy 
were to advance simultaneously on every side. The signal for 
commencing the attack was made at five in the morning of the 
25th, by firing a gun, A tremendous cannonade began along 



124 .MODERN GREECE. 

the whole Turkish line, and was as briskly answered by the Greeks. 
The escalading party contrived to approach within. a few yards 
of the wall unperceived, and had even fixed some ladders, 
which enabled a few of the Turks to pass the parapet ; these 
were, however, instantly cut down ; two-standard bearers, who 
succeeded in planting the crescent on the walls, shared the same 
late ; all, in fact, who attempted to mount the wall were precipi- 
tated into the ditch ; and as the Greeks felt that their existence 
depended on the issue of this struggle, they vied with each 
other in acts of valour and boldness. Though short, the con- 
flict which followed was both desperate and sanguinary, for, 
when daylight broke, the whole of the glacis was seen covered 
with the dead. Though the Turks now perceived that they 
had nothing to hope from prolonging the contest, numbers con- 
tinued to advance for the purpose of carrying off their dead com- 
panions, not one of whom was suffered to escape. The infidels 
lost above twelve hundred men and nine stands of colours in 
this affair ; while, incredible as it may appear, the utmost loss of 
the Greeks was only six killed and about thirty wounded. 
Such was the result of an attack, upon the success of whic^h the 
Turkish chief calculated so fully, that he assured those around 
him it was his intention to dine at Missolonghi on the great an- 
niversary of the Christians. The immediate effect of this signal 
discomfiture was that of making the rising general throughout 
the neighbouring provinces. Those who had entertained any 
dread of the enemy before, were now quite disengaged from 
their fears ; and bands were formed in all directions to cut off 
their retreat whenever they attempted to recross the mountains. 
The only fear entertained by Mavrocordato was, lest the Turks 
should flee before the arming of the peasantry had been com- 
pleted. On the other hand, it required all the efforts of the 
chiefs to prevent their men from sallying forth at once, and 
grappling with the whole of the infidel army on the plain. 

" Omer Vrioni, having sent Varnachiotti to Xeromeros, in or- 
der to procure provisions and forage, received a letter on the 
31st from the traitor, informing him that Rongo, whom Omer 
had sent into Valtos for the same object, had abandoned the 
cause he had ..feigned to espouse, the more effectually to de- 
ceive the enemy, and that, at the head of three thousand men, 
he was marching to cut off Omer's retreat by Langoda ; that 
the people of Xeromeros had taken ai-ms in spite of all his influ- 
ence ; and that the Prince of Maina, at the head of fifteen hun- 
dred men, had just driven the Turks from Dragomeste, and was 
advancing to occupy the defiles by which the Pasha could alone 



MODERk GREECE. 125 

effect his retreat to Vonitza. The Turks, whose characteristic 
is fear, were so panic-struck by this intelligence, that it had not 
reached the camp two hours before their retreat commenced 
with die greatest disorder. This was so sudden and precipi- 
tate, that diey left die whole of their artillery, consisdng of eight 
fine pieces of brass cannon, widi a complete field-train and tum- 
brils, two howitzers, ammunition, and camp-equipage, together 
with a large quantity of provisions and all the baggage. To in- 
crease their embarrassment, die infidels were scarcely in mo- 
tion, when a detachment of five hundred men sallied from the 
town, and overtaking their rear-guard at Kerasova, killed a 
great number. On reaching the Acheron, its waters were so 
swollen by the condnued rains, that the enemy could not pass, 
so that they now found themselves enclosed on every side and 
without provisions. It was while the infidels were in this situ- 
ation and meditating the means of escape, that a large division 
of the Greeks under Marco Botzaris appeared marching to- 
wards them. Such was the effect of this movement, that the 
Turks, more panic-struck than ever, determined to attempt the 
passage of the river, rather than risk a battle. They according- 
ly plunged into the stream, and several hundreds were drowned 
in crossing, while those who did not adopt this perilous mode of 
saving themselves, were under the necessity of surrendering as 
prisoners to the Suliot chief. Having gained the right bank of 
the Acheron, the Turkish hordes had fresh enemies to contend 
with at every step, in the armed peasantry of Xeromeros, Valtos, 
and the other districts dirough which their line of retreat lay ; 
so that, of the large force brought into Acarnania only three 
months before, not more than half the number escaped : nor 
did the fugitives stop before they reached Arta and Anacori, be- 
yond the passes of Macronoros. 

• " With respect to Mavrocordato, whose firmness and per- 
severance during this most arduous period are above all praise, 
he was now enabled to realise his favourite plan of civil organi- 
sation. A local junta being formed at Missolonghi, measures 
were immediately adopted for carrying the law of Epidaurus 
into effect throughout Acarnania and Etolia. Arrangements 
were also made for re-organising the military system of the 
provinces. The importance of Missolonghi being now more 
apparent than ever, it was determined that a moment should not 
'be lost in remodelling its dilapidated fortifications. The com- 
pletion of this task was considered so urgent, that, in addition to 
the regular working-parties, the inhabitants, of whom considera- 
ble numbers returned after the retreat of the enemv, were called 



126 MODEKN GREECE. 

upon to assist in throwing up the new works. This call being 
readily obeyed, they proceeded with such alacrity and spirit that, 
in less than three months, Missolonghi was placed in a state of 
perfect security froin all future attacks. These important ob- 
jects accomplished, the President re-embarked with all the 
troops that were not required for the defence of the town, and 
crossed over to the Peloponnesus, where he arrived in the early 
part of April, after an absence of ten months." 

We must now return to the state of affairs in the Peninsula. 
Soon after the depai:ture of Mavrocordato for Western Greece, 
the seat of government was again removed to Argos, a small 
garrison only being left to defend the Acro-Corinthus. No 
more striking proof of the weakness or incompetency of the 
new Government, could be given, than its neglecting to secure 
this important post, which a small force, well provisioned, might 
have defended against all the power of Turkey. Either through 
want of means or of foresight, it was alike unfurnished with 
ammunition, engineers, and provisions ; and on the approach of 
the Turkish army, the Hydriot papas who had been entrusted 
with the defence, whether through pusillanimity or treason, fled 
without making an effort to maintain the post confided to his 
charge.* 

It was towards the end of May 1822, that Khurshid Pasha, 
having finally resigned the conduct of the war in Western 
Greece into the hands of Omer Vrioni, put himself at the head 
of the army which had been for some time collecting at Larissa 
and Zetouni. These forces consisted of about 30,000 troops 
of the Porte, more than a third of whom were cavalry, and be- 
tween ten and twelve thousand horse furnished by the great feu- 
datories of Rouraeli, besides the personal guards of the respec- 
tive pashas. The month of June had elapsed before the pre- 
parations for passing the Spercheius were completed. At 
length, the order to advance being given, the cavalry dashed 
forward, leaving the artillery and infantry far behind, and crossed 
the ridges of Othrys and GEta without opposition ; although 
Odysseus had successfully opposed a large army of Turks at 
the passes of Callidroraus and Cnemis the preceding year.f 

» Previously to his evacuation of the Acro-Corinthus, lie caused Kiamil 
Bey to be put to death, on the charge of holding a secret correspondence with 
the enemy, or, according to another version of the story, for i-efusing to dis- 
close vi^here he had concealed his treasures. Tlie secret, it is said, was subse- 
<|uently revealed by his widow to Mahmoud Pasha, who married her after his 
retreat from Argos. 

t" Whether the inactivity of Odhyssefs on this occasion arose from a spirit 
of opposition to the central government, with which he had had some recent 



MODERN GREECE. 127 

The consequences of his negligence or policy, although at first 
alarming, proved ultimately heneficial to the Greeks. 

The Turkish army, having crossed Phocis and Bania, " plun- 
dering, burning, and murdering, while ^ley published the 
amnesty of the Porte," arrived at Corinth without having met ' 
with any resistance. Elated by the surrender of that import- 
ant fortress, they advanced in full security to occupy the Argolic 
plain, and to open a communication with the garrison of Napoli, 
which had already (in the end of June) agreed to deliver up /! 
the place, if tliey should not be relieved within forty days. As 
soon as the enemy entered the Argolis, the Vice-president Can- 
acari, w^th the other members of the Executive, deemed it expe- 
dient to take refuge in a neighbouring island, and to abandon the 
entire management of the contest to the military leaders. On 
this occasion, Demetrius Ypsilanti displayed a courage and reso- 
lution which did him honour. Without money or provisions, 
having scarcely 1,300 men to oppose to an army of 30,000, he 
threw himself into the ruined citadel of Argos, in order to check 
the progress of this formidable enemy. 

In the mean time, Colocotroni had, on the sixth of July, sud- ' 
denly raised the blockade of Patras without orders, and had 
proceeded with all his forces to Tripolitza, leaving the Turkish 
garrison at liberty either to penetrate into the Morea or to cross 
the Gulf of Lepanto. Whatever were his reasons for this extra- 
ordinary step,* it excited at the time the astonishment as w^ell as 
displeasure of the Government : so little concert or intelligence 
was there between the civil and military authorities. Scarcely 
had he been a week in his new quarters, when he received intel- 
ligence that the Turkish army had advanced to the walls of Cor- 
inth. And now, if his conduct had before seemed equivocal, it 
was marked by the greatest firmness and presence of mind, and 
his subsequent efforts entitled him to the warmest gratitude of 

disagreement, or whether he calculated that, by allowing the enemy to spread 
over a larger tract of country, the Greeks would have it in their power to inter- 
cept his communications, and to harass him in detail with better cfiTpct, is per- 
haps known only to Odhyssefs himself. His courage and ability had hitherto 
been eminently useful to the cause of his country. He soon afterwards op- 
posed Khurshid himself at the head of the reserve of the Tnrkisli army with 
success ; and has since repeatedly shewn how formidable a barrier to the 
south of Greece the (Etajn passes are in his hands." — Leake, p. 88. 

* It is not likely that this step should have been taken without some urgent 
motive ; and if Colocotroni had obtained intelligence of the preparations 
making by the Ottomans, this might explain and justify his conduct. It is 
equally probable, that his troops began to want provisions or to murmur for 
pay, and that, in proceeding to Tripolitzn, his object was to call together the 
senate, which, in fact, was subsequently formed here after the embarkation of 
tlie executive. 



128 MODERN GREECE. 

his countrymen. The utmost force he could muster did not 
exceed 2000 men. Forming this small corps into two divisions, 
he sent the larger, consisting of 1,200 men under the command 
of his most confidential officer, Coliopulo, to occupy the passes 
between Corinth and Argos, while with the remainder he advanc- 
ed into Argolis. After communicating with Ypsilanti, he in- 
trenched himself at Lerna, a strong position on the western 
shore of the Gulf, to wait the arrival of reinforcements from 
Mania, Arcadia, and other points. Here he was eventually 
joined by Prince Demetrius, who, leaving by night the dilapidat- 
ed fortress into which he had thrown himself, and which was 
entirely destitute of water, succeeded in joining the main body 
without losing a man. 

The Turkish army, commanded by Mahmoud, Pasha of 
Drama, occupied all- the eastern part of the Argolic plain, and 
Mahmoud entered Napoli ; but here ended his };rogress. So 
far from having brought supplies to the starving garrison of that 
fortress, the Ottomans had advanced without providing any 
means of subsistence for themselves, fondly expecting that the 
Greeks would suffer the produce of the harvest to fall into their 
liands. In vain they now looked for the Turkish fleet to furnish 
supplies.* Threatened with all the horrors of famine and 
drought, it soon became impossible for the Pasha to continue in 
his position, or longer to delay his retreat towards Corinth. No 
sooner were the orders given, and the baggage-camels laden, 
than the Moslem army set forward in great disorder. Minutely 
informed by their outposts of what was passing in the plain, the 
Greek chiefs at Lerna had abeady sent off detachments by a 
mountain pathway, so as to overtake the retreating columns as 
they entered the defiles between Mycene and Corinth. " Colo- 
cotroni himself advanced with the main body, the moment he 
perceived that the Turks were in motion ; while a part of the 
troops employed before Napoli advanced on their right flank. 
These movements were so well contrived and executed, that 
the enemy, whose rear-guard had suflered severely on the first 
day's march, was attacked with such impetuosity on the second, 
that not fewer than five thousand were destroyed in the course 
of a few hours ; and had it not been that many of the Greek 
soldiery paid more attention to the loaded camels than' to the fu- 
. gitives, the loss of the Turks would have been much greater. 
The fate of the advanced guard was little betteu than that of 

* Its detention on the coast of Asia had prevented its timely co-operation 
with the armv. 



MODERN GREECE, • 129 

their companions. On reaching the defiles near Corinth, they 
were met by the Mainotes despatched from Lerna, under Nike- 
tas, and attacked so furiously, that above twelve hundred of them 
perished in the first onset. Many more were killed in trying to 
force the passes. A great quantity of baggage and a number 
of horses fell into the hands of the Greeks. These memorable 
successes occurred between the 4th and 7th of August. Some 
of the foreign volunteers who were present during this retreat, 
have expressed their astonishment at the tranquil manner in 
which the Turks, both infantry and cavalry, suffered themselves 
to be cut down, without making the smallest resistance, as if 
they had looked upon themselves as consigned to death by some 
supernatural power. 

" Having collected the remnant of his army under the walls 
of Corinth, and been joined by the reserves left there, Mah- 
moud Pasha made a movement on the 18th, with the seeming 
view of resuming the offensive and marching towards Argos : 
the real object of this movement was, however, to draw the 
Greeks, who had been watching him, into an ambuscade. Aware 
of his intentions in time, the Greeks, instead of attempting to 
impede him, got into his rear, when the Turks attacked them, 
but, owing to the advantageous position taken up by the Greeks, 
the enemy was again repulsed with great loss. A still more 
bloody affair took place on the following day. Determined to 
regain the position they had abandoned, the Turkish troops 
were headed by Hadji Ali, second in command to Mahmoud ; 
this ofHcer, one of the bravest of the Ottoman army, was killed 
while encouraging his men. In the above desperate effort, the 
enemy lost nearly two thousand men, together with a large quan- 
tity of baggage and several hundred horses."*' 

The Greeks unfortunately had no means of following up these 
successes. Their troops, not being regularly supplied with ra- ' 
tions, and receiving no pay, became so tired of the service that 
great numbers deserted. The fugitive Government was loudly 
censured, although it is doubtful whether they had it in their 

* Blaquiere, pp. 218 — '20. Mr. Waddington states, that he possesses a copy 
of the letter from Niketas to Odysseus, giving an account of this affair, in 
which he "estimates his own loss at fifteen killed and wounded, and eight miss- 
ing; that of the Turks at 4,500. " The Mussuhnan rode into the passes, with 
his sabre in the sheath and his hands before his eyes, the victim of destiny. 
And if the Greeks, from fear or neglect, had not left one road entirely unoc- 
cupied, by which most of the enemy escaped, the whole of the Ottoman army 
might have fallen on that spot. The naine of the pass most fatal to the in- 
vader is Dervenaki: it lies on the principal road from Argos to Corinth." — 
Waddington, p. 144. 

17 



130 MODERN GRfcECE. 

power to remedy these evils. In the altercations which ensued 
on their return to Lerna, the members of the Executive were 
prevented from resuming their functions for some weeks. In 
the mean time, the senate had been called together at Tripolitza ; 
and with them, as the only efficient organ, Colocotroni now pro- 
ceeded to concert measures for providing for the subsistence of 
the troops and for the vigorous prosecution of the campaign. 
Ypsilanti left the Argolis for Athens, to reinforce the garrison 
there ; but, on finding that the enemy did not attempt to ap- 
proach that place, he returned to the Peninsula, and rejoined 
Colocotroni and Niketas, who were blockading Napoli. 

" The sufferings and privations of the Greek soldiers," Mr. 
Blaquiere says, " whether employed before Napoli or in the 
passes, during November and the following month, were of the 
most harassing description. They had no shelter whatever at 
night, though exposed to the piercing cold and incessant storms 
which prevail on the mountains of Greece at this period, and 
without any other covering than the rude Albanian mantle ; 
while the daily ration of each man did not exceed half a pound 
of the coarsest bread. Those stationed at the Dervenaki were 
frequently obliged to march over rocks and inaccessible crags 
from daylight till dark, and not unfrequently during the night. 
Nor was the situation of the blockading force before Napoli 
much better : it was very rare for these to have their arms out 
of their hands, while they were either exposed to chilling blasts 
on the heights, or inundated with rain on the plain blow. It is 
true, the sufferings of the Greeks here were trifling when com- 
pared with those of the Turkish garrison, which had been reduc- 
ed to the last extremity of want, for some weeks before its 
capitulation. Nor was it until all the horses were consumed, 
and that many of the wretched soldiery were driven to the hor- 
rible necessity of subsisting on the carcasses of their fellow-suf- 
ferers, that those charged with the defence of the Palamida, or 
citadel, built by the Venetians on a mountain which overlooks 
the town, suffered themselves to be surprised by a party of 
Greeks, without making the least resistance. On scaling the 
wall, there were not more than thirty men found in that part of 
the fortress, and these had nearly the appearance of skeletons. 
Hearing that the Greeks had entered, the remainder of the 
Turks descended into the town by a covered way. Notwith- 
standing the dreadful condition of the garrison, Ali Bey hesitated 
to enter into terms, even after he discovered that the Palamida 
had been carried. But there was now no choice between imme- 
diate destruction and surrendering. The gates were therefore 



MODERN GREECE. 131 

opened, on condition that the lives of the prisoners should be 
saved, and that they should be transported to the coast of Asia 
Minor by the Provisional Government. Pursuant to the terms 
thus arranged, the Greeks took possession of this highly import- 
ant place on the 11th of January, the anniversary of St. An- 
dreas, the patron saint of the Morea ; a circumstance which 
could not fail greatly to enhance the value of the triumph in the 
eyes of the people. 

" The surrender of Napoli led to another triumph on the 
part of the Greeks, destined to form the last portion of that ter- 
rible fate which had awaited the army of Mahmoud Pasha. 
The object of the division which remained at Corinth being to 
relieve the garrison of the above place, there was no longer any 
motive for its continuance there. Want of provisions had, be- 
sides, rendered a change of position absolutely necessary. The 
Turkish commanders, therefore, determined to march towards 
Patras, the blockade of which place had been lately neglected 
by the Greeks. Setting out about the middle of January, with 
nearly 3000 men, of whom a large portion was cavalry, they had 
only advanced as far as Akrata, near Vostizza, when Lundo,. 
who was returning from Missolonghi with a small body of 
troops, appeared on a height through which the road lay, while 
the infidels were reposing in a deep valley, and thus suddenly 
stopped their progress. There being no attempt made to force 
a passage, the Greek general had ample time to send ofi:' ex- 
presses for reinforcements, and was shortly joined by Petmezza, 
another distinguished chief, who occupied the opposite side of 
the valley. A new scene of horror was thus prepared for the 
devoted Turkish soldiers. Their scanty stock of bread being 
exhausted, they began to feed on the horses ; when the whole 
of these were devoured, recourse was had to the herbs which 
grew on the surrounding rocks ; having subsequently attempted 
to derive sustenance from their saddles, they were at last obliged 
to follow the shocking example furnished at Malvasia and Na- 
poli. The blockade had continued for nearly three weeks, 
when Odysseus, who had joined the other chiefs with about 
200 men, chanced to recognise an old acquaintance in one of 
the two beys who commanded the Turks : negotiations were 
entered into, by which those who survived obtained permission 
to embark, on condition of giving up their arms and effects." 

The remaining operations of the Turkish fleet in this year 
were equally inglorious. After the destruction of the Turkish 
admiral's ship by Canaris in the roads of Scio, the fleet proceed- 
ed to Patras, v/here it took on board the officer appointed to 



132 MODERN GREECE. 

succeed the Capitan Pasha, and disembarked a small body of 
troops. It then sailed for the eastern coast of the Morea; but, 
long before it could reach the Argolic Gulf, the army of Mah- 
moud Pasha had been defeated, and had taken shelter under 
the guns of Napoli and Corinth. It was not till the end of Sep- 
tember that it arrived near Spetzia, where it was met by a great 
number of Greek vessels. Unable to use their fire-ships in the 
open sea, the Greeks did not venture to approach the heavy ar- 
tillery of the Turks, and the latter were equally afraid to venture 
into the narrow exU'emity of the Gulf near Napoli. Instead of 
entering it, therefore, the Turkish admiral sent in two vessels, 
which were intercepted long before diey could reach the town. 
Me then sailed to Crete, and thence to Tenedos, where, in the 
middle of November, he was attacked, while at anchor, by the 
same enterprising Ipsariot, Constantine Canaris, who had burned 
the ship of his predecessor. On this occasion, however, the 
Capitan Pasha's ship escaped, and it was another that suffered. 
After some further losses from the weather, the remainder of 
the fleet sought safety in the Dardanelles ; and thus ignominious- 
ly closed the naval campaign. 

Such was the termination of the second campaign, on the re- 
sults of which the Porte had fondly calculated for re-establishing 
its iron despotism in Greece. The loss of the Turks in the 
Morea alone, by famine and the sword, is supposed to have been 
not less than*25,000 men ; while of the large force which in- 
vaded Acarnania, amounting to between 13 and 14,000 men, it 
is supposed that not more than one half escaped. By the de- 
struction of Scio, they had excited a spirit which could be sub- 
dued only by the extermination of the nation ; and this was their 
only conquest. They still retained possession, indeed, of all the 
fortresses of the Morea except two, with just so much of the 
level country of Northern Greece as their posts at Larissa, La- 
mia, and the Euripus could command. " In other respects, 
their embarrassments were increasing. The Porte found great 
difficulty in equipping its fleet, and it had resorted to such violent 
measures for sustaining its finances, that the piastre, which not 
many years before had been equivalent to an English shilling, 
was reduced in value to 5 l-3d. 

"But, on the other hand," continues Col. Leake, " thewealdi 
of the commercial islands and towns of Greece were equally ex- 
hausted by the exertions which had been made since the begin- 
ning of the contest : some of the powers of continental Europe 
continued to regard the insurrection as part of a general conspi- 
racy against established governments ; the others refused all 



MODERN GREECE. 133 

countenance to tlie insurgents ; and individual charity was very 
inadequate to supply the wants of a people in the situation of the 
Greeks. Hence tliey were unable to retain in their service, or 
to satisfy even the most moderate expectations of the numerous 
militaiy men of experience, who had been left in idleness in 
every part of Europe by the general peace, and who were 
anxious for employment in Greece. They were unable even to 
take into the service of Government their own private ships, by 
which all their naval efforts had been made, or to execute the 
repairs of a two year's war for them ; so that the number of 
those ships in a state to oppose the enemy was considerably 
diminished. Still less could they organise an artillery, or create 
a corps of infantry, under the orders and in the pay of the 
Executive, without w4iich it was impossible for the Government 
to follow any improved plan of military operations, or even to 
establish a national treasury, collect the taxes, and administer, 
for the benefit of the revenue, all that large portion of the 
property of the insurgent districts, which, having formerly be- 
longed to the Turks or their government, was now confiscated 
to the state. A government without a treasury, a marine, of an 
army, was of course little better than a cipher."* 

The second Greek congress was summoned by the Executive 
to meet at Astros, a small town on the maritime frontier of Argo- 
lis and Laconia, in the month of April 1823. So great was the 
anxiety of the people to participate in the deliberations, that, in 
addition to the prescribed number of representatives, no fewer 
than fifty delegates were sent from different parts, to be present 
at the national congress ; and besides the soldiery, a large con- 
course was drawn to the spot. The meetings commenced on 
the 10th of April, and were held in a garden under the shade of 
orange-trees. The deputies and delegates amounted altogether 
to nearly 300. The ancient Bey of Maina, Mavromikhali, was 
named president of the congress. Its first act was to appoint a 
commission, composed of seven members, to revise the " Law 
of Epidaurus," with power to make such alterations as might 
seem necessary. The modifications proposed having been agreed 
upon, the Provisional Constitution was solemnly ratified and re- 
promulgated, under the tide of the " Law of Epidaurus," as 
the political code of Greece. Its next important act was, to 
dissolve the local juntas of Epirus, Livadia, and the islands, and 
to declare all the provinces and islands immediately dependent 
upon the General Government. By a third decree it was enact- 

•*, Leake's Outline, pp. 97. 8. Canacari, the vice-prcsiflent, died at Castries 
in January 1823, 



134 MODERN GREECE. 

ed, that the powers of the archistrategia (generalissimo) and 
of the archinavarchia (admiral-in-chief) should severally last 
only during the expedition in which they might be employed, on 
the termination of which they should return to their original mil- 
itary rank. The military code of France, with a few modificar- 
tions, was provisionally adopted as the law of the confederacy. 
A proposal was made to introduce into the juridical administra- 
tion the trial by jury ; but this was overruled, and a committee 
of nine was appointed to compile from the Basilics and the 
Code Napoleon, such penal laws as might appear' most suitable 
and requisite. The subject of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was 
referred to the minister of religion, who was to consult the 
clergy and make his report to the government.*' The Congress 
then proceeded to nominate Petro-bey Mavromikhalis president 
of the executive ; Colocotroni was chosen vice-president, and 
George Conduriotti, of Hydra, was elected president of the 
senate. f Odysseus, Goura, Panouria, and the two Hvoldaches, 
were named stratarchs of Eastern " Greece ; Constantine 
Metaxas was made eparch of Missolonghi ; and Emanuel 
Tombazis was re-appointed harmostis (captain-general) of Crete. 
The Congress concluded its functions on the 30th of April, by 
issuing a declaration, in which they re-asserted the national inde- 
pendence, and returned thanks to the land and sea forces for 
their noble efforts during the two preceding campaigns. 

The promulgation of this address was followed by the imme- 
diate transfer of the executive and legislative bodies to Tripo- 
litza, where the seat of government was established for the 
present, and immediate steps were taken for opening the third 
campaign. For this, however, they were but slenderly provid- 
ed with resources. " As the invasion of the Morea, and the 
operations in Acarnania, had rendered it impossible for the 
people to cultivate the grounds, little could be expected from the 
ensuing harvest ', an arrangement, however, was made by which 
the national property and the forthcoming crops, estimated at 
twelve millions of Turkish piastres, were farmed out for about a 
third of that sum ; and this, together with a few millions fur- 
nished by the patriotic zeal of individuals, was all that the 
Greek government had, with which to enter the field a third 



* " They decreed the abolition, in the meantime, of imprisonment and the 
bastinado, which the members of the higher clergy were accustomed to inflict 
on the secular priests before the revolution, declaring those usages to be barba- 
rous and tyrannical." — Pouqueville, torn. iv. p. 313. 

t The other members of the executive council were, Andrea Metaxa, Sortiri 
Charalambi,and Zaimi; the latter a captain, but a constitutionalist. 



MODERN GREECE. 135 

time against the whole military and naval power of the Ottoman 
empire."* 

Early in the summer, before the Greek navy could be brought 
to act, a powerful Turkish fleet had, without opposition, conveyed 
supplies and reinforcements to the fortresses still held by the Turks 
in Negropont, the Morea, and Crete. The object of the Porte 
seems to have been, as in the preceding campaign, to make a 
simultaneous attack upon the northern coast of the Morea from 
Eastern and from Western Greece. An army of 25,000 men hav- 
ing been assembled at Larissa early in June, it was formed into two 
divisions, intended to act at separate points. One of these, 
under YussufF Pasha, marched towards Thermopylae ; while the 
other, under Mustafa Pasha, proceeded to the pass of Neopatra 
near Zeitouni. The Greeks posted at the latter point were too 
weak to attempt resistance, so that tlie enemy advanced into 
Livadia unopposed, and encamped at Necropolis on the 20th of 
June, to await the result of YussufF's operations. This Pasha, 
after laying waste the whole country round Parnassus and Liva- 
dia, and setting tire to Rachova and Delphi, at length received 
a check from the armatoli bands unde^ Odysseus and Niketas 
who joined their forces at Dobrena. A system of guerrilla 
warfare was now commenced, by which the Turks were so 
harassed, that they soon retreated in the greatest disorder, 
pursued by the Greeks, who killed great numbers, and took a 
large quantity of their baggage. Odysseus then pushed forward 
to attack the division under Mustafa Pasha, wlr^h he forced to 
take refuge in Negropont, leaving behind most of its baggage 
and military stores. In the autumn, the Turks found themselves 
under the necessity of withdrawing a part of their forces into 
Thessaly, while with the remainder they cruelly persecuted and 
plundered the inhabitants of Euboea, " who the less deserved it, 
as they had hitherto been slow in joining the insurrection. "f 
The Osmanlys were, however, soon followed into this island by 
Odysseus, who, having been speedily joined by some of the 
Thessalian armatoli, and assisted by reinforcements landed from 
the Greek fleet, compelled the enemy, before the winter, to 
retreat behind the walls of Carystus and the Euripus. After 
these successes, which removed all apprehension of any new 



* Blaquire, p. 263. " The collecting' of the contributions in every part of 
Greece, except the islands, and with it all real power, stil! remained in the 
hands of the illiterate chieftains of the land forces, who, though brave and 
sincere in the cause, were too ignorant to see the necessity of giving way to 
others for the general advantage." — Leake, p. 99. 

t Leake, p. 105. 



136 MODERN GREECE. 

attack on the side of Corinth, Niketas proceeded to Salona, to 
concert measures for the defence of that place. 

In Western Greece, the management of the war was entrusted 
by the Pofte to Mustafa, Pasha of Scutari with YussufF, 
Pasha of Serres (Sirrce), as his second in command. The 
whole of July had passed away before a sufficient force could be 
collected to take the field. At length, at the head of 8000 
ti'oops, chiefly Albanians, collected at Prevesa, Yussuff took up 
a position at Ponda (near the ancient Actium), where he awaited 
the arrival of the Pasha of Scutari. No sooner, however, had 
the Albanians received the allowances usually made before enter- 
ing the field, than they mutined and deserted in a body ; the 
Pasha being compelled to consult his personal safety by embark- 
ing for Patras. This defection is said to have been either 
instigated or encouraged by Omer Vrioni, who had taken 
offence, and perhaps alarm, at the preference given to YussufF 
Pasha, and determined to deprive him of all means of co-op- 
erating with Mustafa. The Albanian deserters passed round the 
Gulf and through the Makrinoro without any molestation from 
the Greeks, and the greater part ranged themselves under the 
standard of Omer Pasha, who took post at Lepanore, on the 
right of the Acheron. 

The Greeks were not idle spectators of this transaction, 
Marco Botzaris and Joncas of Agrafa, were stationed with 1 ,200 
men at Katochi between Missolonghi and Vonitza. On reach- 
ing Patras, Yussuff despatched a body of troops to Crionero, 
with orders to attack them in flank. Apprised of their landing, 
tlie Suliot chief fell on the Moslems, and having either killed or 
captured the greater part, drove the rest to their boats. But a 
more formidable enemy having crossed the ridge of Agrafa, 
was on the point of entering Acarnania, and Botzaris resolved 
to dispute his passage. To effect this object, it was necessary to 
undertake one of those extraordinary forced marches by which, 
during the present contest, the Greeks have so frequently 
secured the victory. On the 19th of August, Mustafa Pasha, 
at the head of 14,000 men, had encamped on an extensive 
plain near Karpenisi. The Greeks could scarcely number" 
200t). Undaunted by such fearful odds, Botzaris proposed in 
council, a night attack on the enemy, and called upon those who 
were ready to die for their country to stand forward. The ap- 
peal was answered, and having selected 300 palikars, chiefly 
Suliots, to act immediately about his own person, Botzaris direct- 
ed that the remainder of the troops should be formed into three 
divisions, for the purpose of assailing the enemy's camp a tdiffer- 



MODERN GREECE. 137 

ent points, while, willi his chosen band, he penetrated to the 
centre. That tliis might be simultaneous, not a shot was to be 
fired nor a sword drawn till they hi^ard the sound of his bugle. 
Every thing being prepai'ed by midnight, his last directions were, 
"If you lose sight of me, come and seek me in the Pasha's 
tent." Botzaris succeeded in deceiving the Turkish sentinels by 
telling them, in Albanian, that he came with reiiiforcements from 
Omer Vrioni. On reaching the centre of the camp, he sounded 
his bugle, and the attack commenced on every side. The 
enemy, panick-struck, opposed an ineffectual resistance ; and 
by dayhght, the struggle had terminated, leaving the Greeks in 
possession of the Turkish camp, with eighteen standards, a 
great quantity of baggage and ammunition, a number of horses, 
and some tliousand head of oxen. The loss of the Turks 
must have been very considerable ; that of the Greeks was 
numerically small, — it is said, only thirty killed and seventy 
wounded ; but the victory, decisive and important as it was, 
was dearly bought with the life of the heroic Marco Botzaris. 
Just as he had ordered the Pasha to be seized, his voice being 
recognized, he received a ball in the loins : he continued, how- 
ever, to animate his men, until wounded a second time in the 
head, when he fell, and was borne from the field of his glory.* 
The command of the troops was devolved by acclamation on 
Constantino Botzaris, the hero's elder brother. 

Notwithstanding these checks, liie Pasha of Scutari was 
enabled, by superiority of numbers, to overcome at length all 
opposition on the part of the armatoli posted in the defiles, and 
to effect a junction, in the end of September, with the troops of 
Omer Pasha in the ^tolian plain, where they speedily estab- 
lished a communication with Patras and the Turkish squadron in 
the Gulf. They then penetrated through the defiles of Mount 
Aracynthus, and Missolonghi was again threatened with a siege. 
Early in October, the small town of Anatolico, built on a neck 
of land at the eastern extremity of the gulf to v/hich it gives 
name, about three leagues from Missolonghi, was closely invested 
by the Albanian army. An old dilapidated wall, with a ditch 
filled up in several places, was the only defence of the town ; 
yet, for three weeks, the Turks continued to fire shot and shells 
into the place without making any impression on the garrison, till 
their ammunition and provisions were alike exhausted,-}" 

'■^ No chief stood higher in the estimation of his countrymen, for bravery, 
ilisinterestedness, and simplicity of character; and his loss was justly consid- 
ered as irreparable at this crisis. 

t The number of shot and shells thrown into the town, according to Mr. 

18 



138 MODEKN GREECE. 

and an epidemic fever broke out in the Pasha's army, which 
proved the best ally of the besieged. At length, on the 19th 
of November, Mustafa commenced a disorderly retreat towards 
Albania, leaving behind a number of guns and a considerable 
quantity of baggage. Omer Pasha once more retired to his 
positions on the Ambracic Gulf ; and a small squadron from 
Hydra and Spetzia about the same time relieved Missolonghi 
from its naval blockade. 

The garrison of Cdrinth had, in the mean time, obstinately 
rejected every overture to surrender, though frequently reduced 
to great distress for provisions, till the latter end of October, 
when, there being no longer any hope of succours from the 
Capitan Pasha, they capitulated to Staiko of Argos and Giorga- 
ki Kizzo, who were maintaining the blockade, and were allowed 
to embark on board some Austrian vessels which conveyed them 
to Smyrna.* The Turkish admiral, on his return to the Dar- 
danelles, was met by a Hydriot squadron under Miaulis, and 
sustained some damage, together with the loss of one of his 
ships of war. A convoy proceeding from Salonika to the 

Blaquiere, was estiD)at€d at 2,600 ; yet, only about fifty Greeks were killed or 
wounded ; while the Turks are represented to have lost above 400 in diflferent 
sorties and skirmishes, besides 1,200 by the distemper. A very remarkable 
circumstance is mentioned by Mr. Blaquiere as eccurring during this siege. 
" Being aware that there was neither water nor cisterns in the town, one of 
the first measures of the Turks was to possess themselves of the fountain on 
Terra Firma, at a distance of nearly two miles, where the inhabitants had 
always drawn their supplies ; so that the blockade had not continued many 
days, before those who remained were in the greatest distress, and would have 
been forced to surrender, had not a small supply been occasionally sent from 
this place during the night. But every further hope was destroyed by the 
enemy placing a strong post and battery close to the narrow channel through 
which the boats had to pass, so that the garrison looked forward to their imme- 
diate destrudtion as inevitable, for the town was hemmed in on every side, and 
had been without any communication with Missolonghi for several days, 
when a shell from a ten inch mortar, entering the front of St. Michael's 
church, and penetrating the flagged pavement, lighted on a source of excellent 
water ! What adds to the singularity of the circumstance is, that a few women 
and children who continued in the town (for the greater part had been sent 
hither) took up their abode in the church, as the most secure asylum, and 
were in it when the shell entered, without receiving the least injury.' With re- 
spect to the water thus miraculously dist Mvered, it was not only most abundant, 
but fully equal in quality to that of the fountain of which the enemy had 
taken possession. It is needless to say that this fortunafe coincidence was re- 
garded as a miracle in every sense of "the word ; that it saved Anatolico there 
is no doubt." — Blaquiere's Second Visit, p. 44. 

* Mr. Blaquiere states, that Colocotroni and one or two other chiefs, hear- 
ing of the intended negotiation, repaired to the spot with a view to participate 
in the spoils ; but the Turks refused to open the gates to any but the individu- 
als mentioned in the text, and Colocotroni, disappointed and mortified, was 
obliged to retrace his steps to Tripolitza. Giorgaki is brother to Vasilika, the 
favourite wife of Ali Pasha of loannina. 



MODERN GREECE. ij9(Q 

Euripus, was about the same time attacked by the Greeks in the 
Bay of Opus, aiid suffered great loss. Descents were made 
during the autumn by the Greek navarchs on the coasts of Mace- 
donia and Asia Minor, which served as useful diversions, detain- 
ing the Turkish forces in those quarters. In Samos also, and 
in Crete, the war was prosecuted with considerable success on 
the part of the insurgents. Upon the whole, the campaign of 1 823 
was alike disastrous and inglorious to the Turks. After a three 
years' contest, unaided Greece was still so far from being con- 
quered, that not a single step had been gained towards suppress- 
ing the insurrection. 

On the other hand, the strong fortress of Egripo, on which 
the security of Eastern Greece mainly depends, together with 
Lepanto and Patras, which give the naval command of the Gulf 
of Corinth, being still in the hands of the Turks, the Greeks 
were far from having gained possession of the country.* Their 
excessive ignorance in the art of war, their want of union, and 
their poverty, had hitherto precluded their making good their 
claims to be recognised as a free and independent nation. The 
want of a treasury more especially had presented an insuperable 
obstacle to improvements in the conduct both of their civil and 
their military affairs, while the unhappy dissensions between the 
executive and legislative bodies threatened to occasion the ruin 
of the cause. 

It has already been mentioned that, by the Congress of Astros, 
Petro-bey and Colocotroni were made president and vice-presi- 
dent of the Executive Council [ExTsXsdziKov')^ in the room of 
Mavi'ocordato and Canacaris. Having thus at once the civil and 
military powers in their hands, they soon reduced the Senate 
(^BovXevzi'/.ov Zofxa) to total imbecility. The latter attempted, 
indeed, to preserve its authority, and was engaged, during the 
remainder of the year, in checking the abuses of the military 
government. But two successive presidents, Conduriotti and 
Mavrocordato, having been compelled to flee to Hydra, the 
Senate, supported by the islands and naval leaders, came to an 
open rupture with the ExecutiA^e. The immediate occasion of the 
disagreement is thus stated. The seat of government had been 
removed from Tripolitza to Napoli, where it became necessary 
that at least three members of the Executive Council should 
reside, that number being required to form a quorum. Coloco- 

* " Nothing," remarks Colonel Leake, " can more strongly shew the inefii- 
ciency of the military government of Greece, than that a post go contemptible 
as the castle of Patras should have held out for three years after its investment 
by the Peloponnesian armatoli." 



140 MODERN GREECE. 

troni and Petro-bey, however, were with the army, when Metaxa,* 
one of the other three members of the supreme council, with- 
drew himself to Carilis, thus leaving the Executive in a state of 
political incompetency. For this act he was arraigned by the 
legislative body, and expelled, Coletti being named as his suc- 
cessor. The minister of finance was in like manner displaced, 
for having, without any authority, established a salt monopoly ; 
and four representatives were also dismissed for not attending 
their duties when called on to do so. Irritated at these vigorous 
proceedings, the other members of the Executive sent Niketas 
and young Colocotroni with two hundred men to Argos, whither 
the legislative body had transferred their session, to enforce an 
explanation. They found the assembly sitting, and proceeded 
to demand the reason of their removing Metaxa and the finance- 
minister from their ofiices. Niketas is said to have threatened 
to make law with his sword, and the affair ended by his directing 
the soldiers to seize the archives of the legislative body. They 
were fortunately recovered the same evening by a capitanos 
named Zacharapoalo, who had the address to intoxicate the 
principal officers, and then rob them with impunity of their spoil. 
The majority of the legislative body then transferred their sittings 
to Kranidi, at the extremity of the Argolic peninsula, near 
Spetzia. Here they issued a proclamation, protesting against 
the lawless act ; and having previously summoned and deposed 
Petro-bey and Charalambi,f they proceeded to nominate in their 

* Andrea Metaxa is a Cefalonian, who, tog-ether with his brother Constan- 
tine, (the defender of Anatolico in 1823,) passed over into the Morea at the 
beginning of the insurrection, and became outlawed by the Ionian Govern- 
iftent. They appear to have been Hetaiists, and publicly avowed their connex- 
ion with Ypsilanti. They were consequently, as well as Colocotroni, decidedly 
anti-Anglican. " Metaxa," writes Col. Stanhope, " is a sly politician, who has 
injured his country and raised himself by his cunning. He is Pano's adviser," 
" Coray cuts up Metaxa for his petition to the Pope, in which he places Greece 
at the disposal of the Holy Alliance." Mr. Blaquiere represents Metaxa as 
the prime mover of the senseless quarrels. — Stanhope's Greece, p. 172; 182. 
Waddington, p. 191. 

t Colocotroni, Mr. Waddington states, had voluntarily resigned some months 
before. The following ate stated to be the charges of which the deposed mem- 
bers of the executive were found guilty by a commission of nine of the legis- 
lative body. " 1. For having misapplied the funds of the land and sea forces. 

2. For having allowed two members to carry on the functions of the executive. 

3. For promoting officers contrary to law. 4. For having sold the cannon 
taken at Napoli without consulting- the representatives. 5. For uniting the 
cantons of St. Pierre and Pratos without consulting the legislative body. 6. For 
selling Turkish slaves contrary to law. 7. For having piodaimed the sale of 
the national property without the consent of the legislative body. 8. For 
allowing the finance-minister to establish a monopoly of salt. 9. For sending 
M. Metaxa, a member of the executive, to Carilis, and leaving the supreme 
body of the state with only two persons, and from that period having avoided 



MODERN GREECE. 141 

room the Hydriote, Conduriolti, (as president,) and Boutasi, a 
Spezziote ;* Coletti being already appointed in the room of 
jVletaxa.f The minority, consisting chiefly of Moreote mem- 
bers, retired to Tripolitza, the residence of Colocotroni and the 
otlier ex-ministers. J These events appear to have occurred in 
December 1823. 

all correspondence with tlie legislative body. 10. For having allowed M. 
Metaxa to act as a member of the executive after he had been sentenced to 
dismissal by a commission of the legislative body. 11. For not having ac- 
knowledged M. Coletti as a member of the executive after he had been chosen 
by the legislative body. 12. For having allowed an armed body to depart 
from Napoli, and to act against the legislative body at Argos." — Stanhope, 
p. 107. 

* Since deceased. 

t "Of these" (the members of the executive), "John Coletti, a physician 
bj' profession, and, as such, formerly in the pay of Ali Pasha, is by far the 
most clever and intelligent. Of his sterling patriotism, however, there are few 
in the Morea, or even among his own countrymen, who are not rather scepti- 
cal. The exactions which have been carried on in Romelia by his agents and 
with his approbation, have rendered him odious to the people whom he repre- 
sents ; and his intriguing spirit, forbidding countenance, and repulsive man- 
ners, have gained him, both with the Moreotes and with foreigners, a character 
for cunning, avarice, and dangerous ambition. Nevertheless, his acknowledg- 
ed abilities have given him such an ascendency with the president and with 
the executive body, that he may be considered as the spring of its move- 
ments." — Emerson's Journal, p. 86. 

t " I have presented myself three or four times at the levees of Colocotroni, 
and have received from him repeated assurances of his peculiar respect for 
the English nation, and his attachment to its individual members ; and in fact, 
he immediately provided me with an excellent lodging, which I could not 
otherwise have procured. These professions amuse me the more, as the old 
hypocrite is notoriously anti-Anglican, and is continually and publicly accus- 
ing the British Government of designs to occupy and enslave the Morea. His- 
manners, however, to do him justice, are utterly devoid of urbanity, and, like 
his countenance and dress, are precisely those which best become a distin- 
guished captain of banditti. His court seems to consist of about fifteen capi- 
tani, who seat themselves on the sofa which lines three sides of his spacious 
hall ; from the walls are suspended Turkish muskets, curiously inlaid, with 
many valuable pistols and sabres. His capitani are as filthy a crew as I ever 
beheld, and for the most part ill-looking and very meanly attired ; but the 
most miserably starving wretch that I have observed among them is a papas, 
or priest, bonneted and bearded, but still military. Their usual covering for 
the head is nothing more than the red cap of the country ; but there are gen- 
erally two or three of the party who think proper, from whatsoever feeling of 
vanity, to burden themselves with extremely large and shapeless turbans. 
Colocotroni takes little notice of any of them, and seldom rises at their en- 
trance. The fourth side of the room is occupied by a number of soldiers, who 
remain standing. Upon some occasion, Colocotroni thought proper to com- 
mand them to retire ; they obeyed reluctantly and slowly, and in a very few 
minutes returned in parties of two or three, and re-occupied their station .... 
Petro Bey is a fat, dull, well-looking personage, who is addicted to no particu- 
lar class of political opinions, and appears peculiarly unenlightened by any 
sort of foreign information : he is understood to have made great progress 
(for an oriental) in the science of gastronomy ; and is believed to be willing to 
embrace any form of government which will leave him riches, and give hiu'i 
peace, abundance, and security. It is then imagined that he would introduce 



i^ 



MODERN GREECE. 



The main support of the constitution now rested on the Is- 
landers, upon whom had fallen the principal expenses of the 
war ; for the Morea had not contributed its quota towards de- 
fraying them, owing, as was suspected, to the private extortion 
or embezzlements of the captains, which was one reason of the 
hostility between the military and naval parties.* Napoli di 
Romania was still in the hands of the Moreotes, and Panos Co- 
locotroni, the eldest son of the old archistrategia, assumed there, 
under the title of phrourarch (commander of a garrison), an ab- 
solute authority. After the cession of this fortress had been 
frequently and vainly demanded, the Kranidiotes (as the consti- 
tutionalists were contemptuously called by the military party) 
determined to commence hostilities, and to reduce it to submis- 
sion by blockade. A Hydriote and a Spezziote brig sufficiently 
enforced this by sea, while a party under Coliopulo occupied 
without bloodshed the country between Argos and the head of 
the Gulf. Panos, however, held out till an accommodation took 
place between the Tripolitza faction and the constitutionalists. 

The misunderstanding between the executive and the legisla- 
tive bodies was at its height, when, on the 12th of December, 
Col. Leicester Stanhope arrived at Missolonghi, as agent of the 
Greek Committee of London. On the 5th of January, 1824, 
he was followed by Lord Byron. His Lordship's arrival had 
long been looked for with intense interest, and he was received 
with military honours and an expression of popular enthusiasm. 
Mavrocordato had previously arrived from Hydra, being appoint- 
ed by the legislative body to the government of Western Greece ; 
and here he proceeded to summon a congress, consisting of the 
primates and captains of the province, at which some wise a&id 
salutary regulations were agreed upon. But the spring and the 
chief part of the summer passed away without any effective ex- 
ertion. During the few months that Lord Byron survived his 
arrival in Greece, his wisest and noblest exertions were continu- 
ally frustrated by the impracticability and ingratitude of the ob- 
jects of his exertions.f He began by taking 500 Suliots into 



French cookery among the Mainotes, as an excellent substitute for the indif- 
ferent potations of their Spartan ancestors." Demetrius Ypsilanti was also 
living here in perfect privacy. — Waddington, pp. 150 — 2. 

* " It had beeh rumoured," Mavrocordato said, " that Western Greece 
wished to separate her" interests from those of the Morea. It was not so ; but, 
if the latter possessed resources beyond her wants, it was but just that she 
should contribute to a war carried on for the defence of her outworks." — Stan- 
hope, p. 66. 

t " Some thought that he aimed at the monarchy of Greece ; others, that he 
was an agent of Government, charged to buy the country ; and almost all were 



MODERN GREECE. J4«5 

pay, and having been officially invested with the command of 
about 3000 troops, he projected to conduct in person offensive 
operations against Lepanto. The Missolonghi Government, 
however, he soon found, had not the means of undertaking the 
siege : the treasury was empty, and the troops murmured for 
then- arrears of pay. The Suliots readily accepted Lord By- 
ron's money, but refused to march against Lepanto, saying that 
they would not fight against stone walls. Arta was afterwards 
mentioned as the object of an expedition better suited to the 
military taste of those wild mercenaries ; but neither Arta nor 
Lepanto was molested. Li the mean time, the Suliots quartered 
themselves on the citizens, by whom they were both hated and 
feared, refusing to quit the place till their arrears were paid. 
Many wanton murders were committed by them ; and the per- 
sons even of Europeans not being deemed safe, several of the 
engineers and workmen, sent over by the Greek Committee, 
abandoned the service in disgust.* Colonel Stanhope appears 
to have accomplished notliing beyond establishing two newspa- 
pers, the Hellenic Chronicle and the Greek Telegraph ; a mea- 
sure deprecated by both Mavrocordato and Lord Byron, as at 
once unseasonable and dangerous. f After quarrelling with his 
noble countryman for declaiming against the wild projects of the 
Uberals, and reproaching him as a Turk, the Colonel left Misso- 
longhi tow^ards the close of February for Eastern Greece, where 
he attached himself to the interests of Odysseus. 

On the 19th of April, Lord Byron expired, — an irreparable 
loss for Greece at that crisis, and it threw affairs into inextricable 
confusion. A loan had been negotiated in England for the 
Greek Government, which, had it been properly applied, would 
have been of infinite advantage in strengthening the constitu- 
tional Government, and enabling them to re-organise the civil 
and military systems. Owing to the intelligence received respect- 



convinced that he had some private design which would hereafter develop it- 
self." — Waddisgton, p. 175. " Lord Byron had acted towards them (the Su- 
liots) with a degree of generosity that could not be exceeded ; and then, when 
his plans were all formed for the attack of Lepanto, and his hopes were raised 
on the delivery of Western Greece from the inroads of the Turks, these un- 
grateful soldiers demanded, and extorted, and refused to march till all was 
settled to gratify their avarice." — Stanhope, p. 116. 

^ Stanhope, pp 87, 113, 118, 119, 120. 

t " He (Lord B.) said, that he was an ardent friend of publicity and the 
press, but he feared that it was not applicable to this society in its present 
combustible state. . . .The Greek newspaper has done great mischief both in the 
Morea and in the Islands, as I represented both to Prince Mavrocordato and to 
Colonel Stanhope, that it would do in the present circumstances, unless great 
caution was observed." — Stanhope, pp. 92, 126. 



144 MODERN GREECE. 

ing the triumph of the military faction, and the expulsion of 
Mavrocordato from the Morea, measures of precaution had very 
prudently been taken to prevent the funds from falling into im- 
proper hands ; but, as it turned out, the decisions adopted were 
most unfortunate. The three commissioners nominated to super- 
intend the application of the loan, were Lord Byron, Mr. Gordon, 
and Lazzaro Conduriotti, of Hydra ; Col. Stanhope being 
authorised to act for Mr. Gordon, until the latter should arrive in 
Greece. The loan was consigned to Messrs. Barff and Logo- 
theti, of Zante ; and on the 24th of April, Mr. Blaquiere reach- 
ed that island from England with the first instalment.* The 
first thing he heard was, that Lord Byron was no more ; and 
his death having invalidated the commission, Messrs. Barflf and 
Logotheti i-efused to issue the money. As if a fatality attended 
the whole affair, a proclamation issued by the Provisional Gov- 
ernment, in which Zante and Cerigo were inadvertently named 
as the depots for the future instalments, had the effect of elicit- 
ing a counter-proclamation from the Ionian Government, by 
which it was declared, that the transfer of the money sent to 
Zante would be regarded as a breach of neutrality, exposing 
the offenders to all the pains and penalties denounced in an edict 
promulgated by Sir Thomas Maitland in 1822. It thus became 
impossible to extricate a farthing of the loan. At this very 
time, a formidable expedition was preparing at Alexandria, the 
Turkish fleet was actually at sea, and an army of 60,000 men 
were marching on Salona, destined to cross over to the Morea, 
to co-operate with the Egyptian troops. Many persons who 
had engaged to furnish Missolonghi with supplies, now refused 
to fulfil their promises ; while the Suliots became so ungoverna- 
ble, that Mavrocordato's situation became most embaiTassing, and 
not unattended with personal danger. f 

The military party had always been averse to the loan, affect- 
ing to consider it as equivalent to the sale of the Morea ; and one 
of their agents now repaired to Zante, to endeavour to prevent 

* 40,000Z. in sovereigns and dollars. 

t It ought to be mentioned, that these intractable warriors had suffered the 
greatest privations, and they had strong claims on the Government. " All 
that they wanted," Botzaris, their leader, told Mr. Blaquiere, " was, an asy- 
lum and the means of existence for their families, whom they could not think 
of leaving destitute." And when assured that the Government had determin- 
ed to allot them a fertile district in Acarnania, and that every effort was mak- 
ing to procure them the amount of their arrears, he seemed perfectly satisfied. 
At length, Mr. Blaquiere, on his personal responsibility, advanced 10,000 
dollars ; and trifling as this sum was, it not only enabled Mavrocordato to 
put the Suliots in motion, but to strengthen several points on the northern 
frontier. 



MODERN GREECE. 145 

jts payment, while a report was industriously spread, that the 
money was all to be sent back to England. The fact was, that 
tliey dreaded its falling into tlie hands of their antagonists, and 
depriving them of power. Col. Stanhope, with whom it seems to 
have rested to authorise the transfer of the loan, treated lightly 
the fears of Mr. Blaquiere and the moving entreaties of Mavro- 
cordato, rebuking the " feverish impatience " with which the 
nation looked forward to its arrival ;* and by unseasonable ex- 
hortations to disinterestedness, insulting the people he came to 
aid. The Turks and the Egyptians were at hand, and the 
money, he was well aware, would " settle the government, and 
give it the means of repelling the enemy ;" yet, not deeming 
the government " sufficiently organised," he opposed the issue 
of the loan ; and the consequences were most calamitous. 
What renders the Colonel's conduct the more inexplicable is, 
that Colocotroni and his party, having been deserted by their 
followers after a few sldrmishes with the constitutionalists, had, 
towards the close of April, tendered their submission, and both 
Tripolitza and Napoli had surrendered to the constitutionalists. f 
At length, instructions were received from England to place 
tlie money unconditionally at the disposal of the Greek Govern- 
ment. Not only was it then too late, however, to remedy some 
of the disastrous effects of the delay, but the abandonment of all 
precaution in delivering it, rendered it the source of fresh evils. J 
The first supply reached Napoli in July, and 90,000 dollars were 

* Stanhope, pp. 216, 224, 242. " Your common cry is for money. . . .It is 
false to say, that gold and iron are the sinews of war : these are but the acces- 
sories ! !" 

t Col. Stanhope writes to Mr. Bowring, April 12 : " The legislative and ex- 
ecutive bodies, indeed all the people, think the loan will save Greece, if it 
arrives in time. Every preparatory measure has been taken towards the 
proper disposal of the money. The Greeks are careful of their money, and 
not at all disposed to squander the resources of the state. The only danger is, 
that it should fall into the hands of a few individuals, and be appropriated to 
their particular interests. The present crisis is favourable. The proffered aid 
could not arrive more opportunely. Had it come sooner, it might have fallen 
into the hands of the military oligarchs. At present, their fortresses are about to 
surrender to the constituiionalists, and the government makes progress to- 
wards improvement and strength. The loan will enable Greece to protect her 
frontier this year, her people to reap the fruits of their labour, and the Gov- 
ernment to collect the revenue." On the 28th of the same month, finding 
that he was nominated a commissioner, the Colonel adopts a very different 
tone, but says : " When the fortresses ai'e in the hands of the Government, I 
shall consider that they are in a condition to fulfil their contract, and to pay 
the interest of the money borrowed." 

t " This unconditioned concession of the money to the hands of the Greeks 
themselves, has eventually caused all but their utter ruin ; and whoever were 
the instigators of this measure, theirs is the guilt." — Humphkevs's Journal, 
p. 261. 

19 



146 M03DERN GREECE. 

paid over to the fleet, the rest being distributed among the army ; 
but it was a scramble, and few were satisfied. Among others, 
Odysseus, not finding his demands complied with, made a seizure 
of government money, disbanded his troops, and retired to his 
fortress at Parnassus. 

The campaign of 1824 commenced with the capture and 
destruction of the islands of Kaso and Ipsara by the Turks. 
On the 8th of June, an Egyptian squadron from Candia, con- 
sisting of seventeen vessels, appeared off the former island, and 
the Turks endeavoured to effect a landing, but were repulsed. 
Night put an end to the combat, but, the next morning, Ismael 
Pasha re-appeared, and opened a furious bombardment on the 
principal fortification. While the attention of the islanders was 
thus engaged, a party of the enemy, landing on the north-west- 
ern part of the island, took them in the rear. Four hundred 
Greeks died with arms in their hands ; the rest fled to the 
mountains or the neighbouring islands, and most of the women 
and children fell into the hands of the enemy.* 

Ipsara promised to oppose a more successful resistance, and 
the preparations on the part of the Turks were on a scale of 
proportionate magnitude. Housref, the Capitan Pasha, after 
having landed reinforcements in Negropont, and taken on board 
a body of Albanians at Salonika, assembled at Mytilene a pow- 
erful armament, amounting to upwards of 150 sail, with, which, 
on the 2d of July, he appeared off the island. The firing opened 
upon the town was returned with spirit and considerable effect 
from the batteries ; but during the night, a landing was effected 
at the back of the island, (by aid, it is said, of treachery,) and a 
large body of troops, having driven before them the outposts, 
made their appearance on the heights above the town. At this 
sight, the greater part of the Ipsariots retreated in confusion to 
their ships, and put to sea. Great numbers perished in attempt- 
ing to gain the vessels ; several boats were so overloaded that 
they sank, and several ships were intercepted by the Turkish 

* Ann. Reg. for 1824, p. 169. We know not on what authority, this state- 
ment rests. Mr. Blaquiere gives a very difi'erent account. " Previously to 
the grand attack on Ipsara, a smaller armament had been sent against those 
islands, which, without being very formidable, had been distinguished for their 
hostility to the Ottomans. At Scopolo, near the Gulf of Volos, the enemy 
was repulsed with great loss, and after several attempts to land. The infidels 
were, however, more fortunate at Cassos, a small island near the east end of 
Candia, which, like Ipsara, had acquired considerable wealth by the enterpris- 
ing industry of its inhabitants. Here the Turks succeeded in effecting a land- 
ing ; and tliough subsequently forced to retreat, they were enabled to carry 
off a large quantity of booty, and to destroy several of the vessels which lay 
in the harbour." — Second Visit to Greece, p. 77, note. 



MODEllN GREECE. 147 

squadron. The town was soon taken, and the greater part of 
the remaining population, men, women, and children were mas- 
sacred. Many of them, to avoid falling into the hands of the 
Turks, threw' their children from the rocks into the sea, and then 
plunged after them. A party of Albanians, who, with a number 
of the inhabitants that could not escape, had shut themselves up 
in Fort St. Nicholas, after a brave defence, in wliich they re- 
pelled tlie enemy with great loss, destroyed both themselves and 
their assailants by setting fire to the powder-magazine.* 

The triumph of the Turks was of short duration. No sooner 
had tidings of this catastrophe reached Hydra, than the Greek 
fleet, commanded by Miaulis, wliich had been lying there in in- 
action, for want of funds for the payment of the sailors, animated 
with a desire of vengeance, immediately set sail for Ipsara. The 
Turkish admiral had withdrawn his arm^ament before they could 
reach the island, leaving nothing but about twenty galleys in the 
hai'bour, and a garrison of .1,500 men. Of these, only between 
2 and 300 escaped. Seven of the galleys succeeded in eluding 
pursuit ; the remainder were taken or destroyed. The Greeks 
then brought away the cannon left in the fortresses, together 
vdth some Ipsariot fugitives who had concealed themselves in the 
hills ; and the island has ever since remained desolate. All its 
citizens who have escaped slaughter or slavery, have been in- 
debted for an asylum to the hospitality of their countrymen. 
The greater part established themselves at Napoli di Malvasiaj 
on the coast of Maina. 

.The next attempt of the Capitan Pasha was upon Samos. 
For this purpose, a large bod)^ of Asiatic troops was collected at 
Scala Nova. The Samians, aware of the enemy's designs, sent 
their families to the nicintains, and prepared to defend the 
passes, in case the Turks should effect a landing, while a division 
of the Greek fleet, under George Sakturi of Hydra, disputed 
the passage of the straits. On the 17th of August, in a fourth 
attempt of the Turkish fleet to run across, the brave Ipsariot, Ca- 
naris, attached his fire-vessel to a forty-gun frigate under sail ; 



' In the account inserted in the Ann. Register, the garrison is stated to have 
consisted of sixty men, under the command of a Greek named Maroaki " Find- 
ing themselves unable to defend the place, they hoisted a flag, on which was 
inscribed, ' Liberty or Death,' and immediately blev^ up the fort, involving 
themselves and about 1.200 Turks in instant destruction." Mr. Biaquiere 
makes the number of the garrison amount to 500 ; but his whole account 
though of Greek manufacture, bears very obvious marks of exaggeration and 
poetic invention. " Upon a moderate computation," he says, " 4000 Ch>istians 
of every age perished." The other account states, that most of the inhabitants 
had time to escaoe with their families to Svra. 



148 MODERN GREECE. 

the fire very speedily reaching the magazine, the greater part of 
those on board were destroyed, as well as several transports to , 
which the fire communicated. At the same time, other fireships 
burned a Tunisine brig of war and a large Tripolitan corvette. 
On the 21st of August, another fleet of transports, employed in 
conveying troops to the northern side of Samos, were intercepted 
and dispersed, a part being taken and destroyed. On the fol- 
lowing day, the Turkish fleet again attempted the passage from 
Cape Trogilium to the opposite shore ; but such was now the 
dread inspired by the Greek fireships, that the approach of only 
two or three of them was sufficient to drive back the Ottoman 
men of war to the Asiatic coast. The troops assembled on the 
shore of Mycale in readiness to embark, on witnessing this last 
disgrace of their navy, returned to their camp at Scala Nova j 
and it was not long before the greater part of the land forces 
which had been collected there, dispersed and withdrew into the 
interior. 

" The Capitan Pasha, feeling the necessity of giving up the 
attempt upon Samos for the present, proceeded to effect a junc- 
tion with the Egyptian expedition at Cos and Halicarnassus. 
Sakturi in like manner united his force with that of the chief na- 
varch Miaoulis, at Patmos, after which the Greeks proceeded to 
observe the Mussulman armament. On the 5th of September, 
a small division of Greek vessels with two fireships approached 
the Turkish fleet, when the latter got under weigh ; the Greek 
fleet then joined their comrades, and an action taking place, the 
Turks lost some men, and two fireships of their opponents ex- 
ploded without having done any damage to the enemy. The 
Greeks then retired to Panormus, (the port of the ancient Bran- 
chidae, in the district of Miletus,) no\^ -called leronda. It was 
the object of the Capitan Pasha to return with the united fleet to 
Samos. On the 8th and 9th of September, the Turkish vessels 
attempted in vain to effect a passage through the channel between 
Calymna and the coast of Caria, the wind not being favourable, 
and the Greeks advancing to meet them. On the 10th, they 
were still more unfortunate. Early in the morning, they had 
advanced with a favourable breeze against the enemy, who was 
becalmed near Calymna ; and the nearest of the Greek vessels, 
exposed to the heavy fire of the Turkish ships, were in danger 
of being destroyed, or at least of being cut off from the rest of 
the fleet, when a breeze arising, the Greek ships were enabled 
to act more in concert. Such a desultory combat as the great 
inferiority of the Greek vessels will alone admit of, was kept up 
until the middle of the day, when two fireships were attached to 



MODERN GREECE. 149 

a large Egyptian brig of war, and not long afterwards, two others 
to the frigate which commanded the Timisine division. So con- 
founded were the Turks with the boldness and skill of their op- 
ponents in thus attacking them with their small vessels, in the 
open sea and under sail, that not even the Greek ships accom- 
panying the incendiary vessels suffered much from the Turkish 
fire. The Ottoman fleet returned in confusion to the anchorage 
near Budrum (Halicarnassus), and the burning ships drifting 
ashore were entii'ely consumed. Many of the seamen were 
drowned or slain in endeavouring to escape from the flames, but 
tlie Tunisine commander was taken, and remained a prisoner 
with the Greeks. 

" After tliis defeat, the principal object of the Capitan Pasha 
seems to have been, that of effecting a safe retreat to the Darda- 
nelles. Some ships of war having been left for the protection 
of the transports which had been sent to the upper part of the 
Gulf of Cos, to land the Egyptian troops, the remainder, as soon 
as the calms (which usually prevail for some weeks after the cessa- 
tion of the Etesian winds) had given place to the equinoctial 
gales, took advantage of a southerly breeze, and after meeting 
with some interruption and loss near Icaria, reached Mytilene. 

" On the 7th of October, the Turkish admiral, having left 
Ibrahim Pasha in the command of the naval forces, re-entered 
the Dardanelles. About the middle of the same month, Ibra- 
him, after some unsuccessful encounters with the Greeks near 
Chios and Mytilene, returned to the Egyptian armament in the 
Gulf of Cos ; and in the month of November his ships sustained 
considerable damage from the enemy on the northern coast of 
Candia."* 

In Western Greece, military operations were almost suspend- 
ed during the whole year. Mavrocordato, indeed, took post at 
the head of about 3000 men, on the heights of Lugovitza, near 
the western bank of the Achelous, where they remained for 
three months ; while Omer Pasha remained at Kervasara at the 
southeastern extremity of the Ambracic Gulf ; but neither party 
was able or disposed to bring his troops to act.f 

In Eastern Greece, an attempt was made by the Seraskier, 
Dervish Pasha, to penetrate from Thessaly to the Corinthian 
Gulf, by the route which leads firom Zeitouni to Salon a. In the 

* Leake's Outline, pp. 152 — 5. 

t A detachment of cavalry surprised the town of Vrachova, and took or killed 
about 300 of the inhabitants. The town, however, had been before nearly de- 
stroyed, and with this exploit Omer Vrioni was satisfied. — Humphreys, p, 
264. 



150 MODERN GREECE. 

(«>.£<■ month of July, he succeeded in passing through the defiles; but 
at Ampliani, about eight miles from Salona, he was attacked and 
defeated by the Greeks under Panouiia; and after suffering 
some further loss in his retreat, he resumed his positions in Doris 
and Thessaly, without having effected the smallest advantage.* 
In concert with this operation, an attempt to recover Athens was 
made by Oraer Pasha of Egripo ; but he was met at Marathon 
in the middle of July by the Greeks under Goura, from whom 
he received such a check as, combined with the ill success of 
the Seraskier's expedition, sufficed to confine him to Boeotia, 
and he ultimately withdrew behind the walls of Egripo. 

In the Morea, an attack was made, in the early part of the 
year, on Modon ; but this*, with occasional skirmishes with the 
garrison of Patras, comprised the whole exertions on either side. 
Coron and Lepanto remained in the undisturbed possession of 
the Turks. 

Upon the whole, the campaign of 1824 was one of the most 
inglorious and unprofitable to the Ottomans of any that had 
hitherto taken place, and at no period had the prospects of the 
Greeks assumed a brighter appearance, than towards the close 
of this year. The arrival of the loan and the submission of the 
military party had given new strength and apparent stability to 
the civil Government ; while, as to the most important of all its 
foreign relations, the Ionian Government with whom there had 
arisen a serious misunderstanding, was now on terms of friendly 
neutrality, and the Lord High Commissioner had actually deign- 
ed to set his foot in Greece. f But unhappily, the renewal of 

* Captain Humphreys states, that the Turks on this occasion lost about 200 
men ; the Greeks four or five. " This was the most important engagement 
that took place by land during the whole campaign; and constituted the ope- 
rations of the Turkish army of above 20,000 men, opposed to 4000." — Hum- 
phreys, p. 268, 

t An order had been issued by the British Government, towards the close 
of 1822, directing its officers in the Mediterranean to respect the right of the 
Greeks to blockade such ports of Greece as remained in possession of the 
Turks. This was a most important point gained, being a first step towards the 
recognition of their independence. Jt'was, however, notorious, that among the 
transports hired at Alexandria and Constantinople, a great number were under 
the English and the, Austrian flags Irritated at these proceedings, and 
alarmed at the formidable preparations which were being made in both Tur- 
key and Egypt, the executive council issued, on the 8th of June 1824, from 
Lerna, an edict authorizing their cruizers to attack, burn, and sink, all Euro- 
pean vessels which they should find so employed. This infraction of interna- 
tional law, immediately called forth strong remonstrances from Sir Frederick 
Adam ; but these not being attended to, on the 6th of September he issued a 
proclamation, notifying, that till the Greek manifesto should be fully and au- 
thentically recalled, the British admiral in the Mediterranean had been direct- 
ed to seize and detain all armed vessels acknowledging the authority of the 
Provisional Government of Greece. On the 27th of August, the Government 



MODERN GREECE. 151 

those dissensions in the JMorea, which it was fondly hoped that 
the loan would heal, or enable the Government to terminate, not 
only prevented the prosecution of the winter campaign, but 
placed the cause in tlie greatest jeopardy. 

During the winter, these differences rose to an alarming 
height. Several instances of partiality shewn by the Govern- 
ment to the Roumeliots, had tended to irritate the Moreote chief- 
tains, who were moreover jealous of not sharing in the increas- 
ing power of the Government. At length, as little conciliation 
was employed, the dispute produced an insurrection on the part of 
the Moreotes, at the head of which was Colocotroni and his sons, 
Niketas, his nephew, Demetrius and Nicolas Deliyauni, General 
Sessini, Andrea Zaimi, Andrea Londos, and Giovanni and Pan- 
agiola Notapopuolo. The Government immediately called in the 
aid of the Roumeliots, two of whom. General Izonga and 
Goura, aided by the counsels of John Coletti, took the command 
of their forces. The Aloreotes carried on the civil war with 
considerable spirit for some time, and proceeded so far as to at- 
tempt the capture of Napoli di Romania ; but at length, after 
some delay and bloodshed, the insurgents were dispersed, and 
the rebellion was pretty well quelled by the end of December. 
The evil effects, however, of this civil contest were long felt, 
and one most disastrous consequence was, that it prevented the 
reduction of Patras, which might easily have been taken during 
the winter. Owing to the delay thus occasioned, it was the mid- 
dle of January before a few vessels sailed up the Gulf of Cor- 
inth, and, aided by some land forces, recommenced the block- 
ade-; while an active pursuit was set on foot after the fugitive 
leaders in the late insurrection, who had taken refuge in the dif- 
ferent holds of the Morea. 

In the meantime, the Porte was very differently occupied. 
The Pasha of Egypt, prompted apparently by a Mussulman 
feeling, and by the hope at least of adding Candia and the 
JNIorea to his dominions, had entered cordially into the war, and 
his wealth enabled him to take upon himself the chief pecuniary 
burthen. Unhappily for the Greek cause, the assistance of the 
Egyptian troops had enabled the Turks m Candia to produce a 

had already revoked their edict, so far as regarded all neutral ships that had 
not Turkish troops on board ; but this not being satisfactory, Sir Frederick 
Adam, two days after the issuing of his proclamation, embarked for Napoli, where 
he was received with the highest honours, and all differences were immediately 
adjusted by a new decree limiting the order to neutrals found in the enemy's 
■ fleet. On the 17th of November, a proclamation from the Ionian Government 
enjoined all vessels bearing the Septinsular flag, to respect the blockade of thf? 
Gulf of Corinth maintained by the Greeks. 



152 MODERN GREECE. 

temporary suppression of the insurrection in that important island ; 
and the great facility of communication which was thus estab- 
lished between Egypt and the Morea, enabled Ibrahim Pasha, 
the step-son and lieutenant of Mohammed Ali, to begin the 
campaign of 1825 without waiting for the return of spring. 
His fleet having wintered at Suda in Candia, set sail on the 23d 
of December for Rhodes, where he took on board 5000 disci- 
plined troops : with these he returned to Candia, to complete his 
armament, which detained him tiU the middle of February. At 
the same time, transports were being fitted out at Constantinople, 
for the purpose of relieving Modon and Patras. Omer Vrioni 
had been removed to Salonika, and the pashaliks of loannina 
and Delvino had been bestowed oh the Roumeli Valisee, to 
which was to be added Karl-ili, in the event of his subduing it. 
He immediately began to form his camp at Larissa, intending, 
when his arrangements should be complete, to pass over to his 
new pashalik, and with reinforcements levied in his progress, to 
descend on Missolonghi. 

Affairs, however, wore a favourable aspect in Greece up to 
the commencement of February. The last remnant of the 
rebellion had been quelled. A few of the leaders (or avzagTOi^ 
as they were called) had taken refuge in Kalamos, an island appro- 
priated by the Ionian Government to the reception of Grecian 
fugitives. The remainder had surrendered to the Government, 
and it having been determined to remove them to Hydra, the 
same vessel which brought Conduriotti from that island to resume 
his functions at Napoli as President of the Executive, returned 
with the chiefs of the rebellion on board. On the 17th of 
December, Colocotroni and his companions embarked, and in a 
few days were landed at the place of their destination — the 
monastery of St. Nicholas, on the craggy summit of one of the 
wildest hills of Hydra. 

" The prospects of this moment," remarks Mr. Emerson, who 
arrived in Greece in March, " were, perhaps, the most brilliant 
since the commencement of the revolution. The liberators 
were now in full possession of the Morea, with the exception of 
Patras and the unimportant fortresses of Modon and Coron. 
Almost all Western Greece was in the hands of the Govern- 
ment. The country was just freed from a rebellion, which had 
exposed the principles of three of the chieftains who were dis- 
affected, and enabled the Government to remove them from 
their councils and measures ; a fourth portion of the loan was 
at that time arrived, and a fifth expected ; whilst, about the 
same time, a second loan had been effected in England, so that 



MODERN GREECE. 153 

the funds of the Government were now replenished with ample 
means for a long campaign. Thirty ships composed the block- 
ading squadron before Patras, aided by a large body of land 
troops. The garrison within was already reduced to straits for 
pro\asion, as appeared by some letters which arrived at Zante 
from persons witliin the walls ; and a capitulation was expected 
in a very short time. Constant communications being maintain- 
ed between Missolonghi and Larissa, and the activity of the 
Roumeli Valisi's movements being ascertained, it was determined 
to prepai'e in time to oppose him ; and for this purpose, Nota Bot- 
zaris, together with Generals Suka and Milios, set forward with a 
sufficient body of ti'oops to occupy thepassof Makrinoro, tha-ans 
cieat -Olyft^s, through which it was necessary he should pass. 
Thus prepared at every point, the spirits of the soldiers were raised 
to the highest pitch of enthusiasm ; and it seemed that Greece 
wanted but one step more to defeat her northern invaders, deliver 
the Peloponnesus, and complete the work of freedom. 

" It was, however, towards the end of the same month, that 
the first disastrous stroke occurred. Frequent letters from 
Crete had informed the Government of the return of Ibrahim 
Pasha from Rhodes, and of the vigour with which he was 
hastening the completion of his preparations. The progress of 
the blockade at Patras was now observed with double interest, as 
its fall was daily expected, and as there was no other probable 
means of checking the armament of the Egyptians, tlian 
by withdrawing the squadron which was cruising before the for- 
tress. This, being a desperate resource, was of course deferred 
to the last moment ; till at length, advices arrived of the im- 
mediate departure of the expedition from Candia ; further delay 
was impossible, and just at a moment when the garrison was 
ripe for surrender, tlie squadron sailed, unfortunately too late* 
Such was the deficiency of communication across the Morea, 
that almost on the same day that the fleet sailed from Patras 
(24th Feb.), the Egyptian squadron of four corvettes and nu- 
merous brigs and transports, in all thirty sail, anchored off Mo- 
don, and disembarked 6000 soldiers, infantry and cavalry, well 
disciplined, and commanded chiefly by European officers. The 
troops immediately encamped around Modon, whilst the ships 
returned without delay to Suda in Candia. A few days after, 
Ibrahim Pasha, at the head of 800 men, advanced to the sum- 
mit of the range of hills which rise at the back of Navarino. 
The inhabitants were instantly struck with terror, and flew to 
arms, wliile 700 Roumeliots, under the command of General 
Giavella, poured immediately into the fortress. The Pasha's 
20 



154 MODERN GREECE. 

object, however, appeared to be merely to take a survey of the 
situation of the fortress ; he remained quietly at his station for 
some hours, and then returned to his encampment. It was now 
clear that Navarino and the adjacent country was to be the im-^ 
mediate seat of war ; the attempt on Patras was consequently 
totally abandoned, and the troops drawn off to be marched fur- 
ther south. 

"Both parties, however, remained quiet till the 20th of 
March, when Ibrahim Pasha, having received a -second rein- 
forcement from Candia, (his ships having evaded the Greek 
squadron,) took up his position, and placed his camp, with 
14,000 soldiers, before Navarino. The capture of this town 
was a considerable object to the Turks not only from its position, 
but from the circumstance of its being the best, or one of the 
best protected ports in the Morea. The harbour, which is 
of considerable dimensions, is protected by the island of 
Sphacteria at its entrance, which is so narrow, that whoever 
has possession of the island can prevent all ingress or egi^ess 
from the town by sea. 

" The situation of Navarino perfectly agrees with Thucydides' 
description of Pylos ;* from some remains of antiquity in the 
neighbourhood, there can be little doubt of its identity : in fact, 
a village about half a mile distant, built immediately at the foot of 
the cliff, on which stands the fortress called Old Navarino, still 
bears the name of Pylos. New Navarino, or Neo-Castro, as 
the Greeks more usually call it, formerly contained 600 Turks 
and about 1 30 Greeks ; the former of whom were remarkable 
for their villany, the latter, like all the Messenians, for their sloth 
and effeminacy. It now contained merely 200 inhabitants and a 
small garrison, having fallen into the hands of the Greeks during 
the early stages of the revolution. The fortifications, like all 
the others in the Morea, were the work of the Venetians, and 
though not peculiarly strong, were in a pretty fair state of repair. 
Every precaution Avas now taken by the Greeks. A garrison 
amounting to 2000 soldiers, principally under the command of 
Hadji Christo, and Joannes Mavromichali, son to Petro Bey of 
Maina, were thrown into the fortress ; a small corps of artillery, 
amounting to fifty or sixty men, were sent off with all haste 

* The modern Greek name of the castle is 'ASapTvo?, whence the Italian names 
of Old and New Navarino. It had been left nearly in the same state in which 
it was found when taken from the Turks in 1S21. The fortifications consisted 
of a low wall without any ditch, flanked on the land side by some small bas- 
tions, and still weaker towards the sea, where it had received only a slight 
patching, since it was battered by the Russians, from one of the opposite 
islands, in the year 1770. — Leake's Outline, p. 165. 



MODERN GREECE. 155 

Iropn Napoli ; and the command of the fortifications was given to 
Major Collegno, who lost no time in assuming his post. Provi- 
sions were sent in from all parts of the Morea, sufficient for a 
long siege. Large bodies of Roameliots, under the command 
of their respective generals Giavella, Karatazzo, Constantine 
Botzaris, brother to the hero Marco, and General Karaiskaki, 
took positions 'm the rear of the enemy. Conduriotti and Prince 
MaM'ocordato prepared to set out from Napoli with fresh troops ; 
and diough aifairs were threatening, there existed the strongest 
hopes, from the spirit of the soldiery and the state of the fortress, 
that they would be able to make an effective stand against all 
assaults." 

The army of Ibraliim Pasha consisted of about 10,000 in- 
fantiy, 2000 Albanians, and an adequate proportion of cavalry 
and artillery. On the 2Sth of March, he made an assault on the 
town, but was opposed by the united force of the Roumeliot 
general, Karatazzo, and Joannes Mavromikhah. The loss on 
both sides was nearly equal : that of the Greeks is stated at 150 
men, including their brave young leader, Joannes, who received 
a wound in his arm, which, being unskilfully dressed, terminated 
in -a mortification. The Greeks succeeded, however, in taking 
fi'om the enemy upwards of a hundred English muskets and bay- 
onets, which were immediately forwarded to Tripolitza. A sys- 
tem of petty skirmishing was kept up during the ensuing three 
weeks without any important result. In the mean time, Aus- 
trian, Ionian, and even English ships, laden with Turkish grain 
and provisions, were daily arriving at Napoli, as prizes taken by 
the Greek cruizers :* and on the 13th of April, three Austrian 
vessels, laden with provision's for the enemy, who was reported to 
be already in possession of Navarino, appeared at the entrance 
of the harbour. The Greek commandant, suspecting their in- 
tention, hoisted the red flag on the fortress : and the three ves- 
sels, entering in full confidence, were declared lawful prizes, and 
tlieir cargoes were applied to the supply of the garrison. 

At length, on the 19th of April, Ibrahim Pasha attacked, in 
their position, the whole force of the Greeks, amounting to 
about 6000 men, and completely defeated them. The partic- 
ulars of this important action are thus given by Mr. Emerson, 

* Emerson, p. 105. These vessels had invariably regular papers from their 
respective consuls, and cleared for the Ionian Isles : but in general, the confes- 
sions of the captains, or some other circumstances, condemned them. Several, 
however, were reclaimed, and though no doubt could be entertained of their 
being Turkish property, yet, as their papers were correct, the Greeks weie 
compelled to surrender thbm. 



156 - MODERN GREECE. 

on the authority of letters from Navarino, transmitted td the 
Government at Napoli. 

" The positions in the rear of the enemy had been all occu- 
pied, with an intention of cutting off their communication 
with Modon, and were now extended almost in a circle. The 
left extremity was intrusted to Hadji Christo, Hadji Stephano, 
and Constantine Botzaris ; the right was commanded by the Rou- 
meliot generals, Giavella and Karatazzo ; whilst the centre was oc- 
cupied by a body of Moreotes, under General Skurtza, a Hydriote, 
whom Conduriotti's interest had invested with a high command, 
together with a few other capitani. On the evening of the 18th 
instant, intimation of the intended attack in the morning had been 
received from a deserter, and notice in consequence sent to the 
different generals. The commanders of the positions on the 
extremities were fully prepared ; but in the centre, Skurtza had 
as yet neglected to make the necessary entrenchments and petty 
lines, behind which alone the Greeks are capable of making any 
stand. He accordingly applied for additional assistance, and ' 
early in the morning, Botzaris set out to his position with a 
chosen body of his soldiers. About nine o'clock, the attack of 
the Egyptians commenced on the position of Hadji Christo, who 
sustained the onset with extreme courage : at the same time, 
another party, with three cannon and one mortar, commenced 
the attack on the right, where they met with an equally brave 
resistance from Giavella and his followers ; whilst a third, sup- 
ported by a body of Mameluke horse, charged on the centre. 
The two extremities kept their position with astonishing bravery, 
though not less than three hundred shot and shells fell within the 
lines of Giavella. In the centre, however, the want of their ac- 
customed tambours soon threw the soldiers of Skurtza into 
confusion ; and after a short stand, they commenced a precipi- 
tate retreat, leaving the soldiers of Botzaris to oppose the enemy ^ 
alone. These were soon cut to pieces ; and it was with extreme 
difficulty, that himself and twenty-seven followers escaped with 
life, after witnessing the fall of almost all the chosen soldiers of 
his brother Marco, who had died in his defence. Upwards of 
two hundred Greeks lost their lives in this engagement. Xidi and 
Zapheiropuolo, two of the bravest leaders, were made prisoners ; 
and four other distinguished capitani perished in the fray. 

" The day following, the enemy, elated with their success, 
attempted an assault on the walls : the efforts of the garrison, 
however, assisted by a band of Arcadians in the rear of the en- 
emy, were successM in driving them off with the loss of 100 
slain and twenty prisoners ; whilst the Greeks took possession of 



, MODERN GREECE. 157 

their newly-erected battery, but, not being able to carry off the 
cannon, contented themselves with spiking them all, and retired 
again within the walls." 

The negligence or pusillanimity of the Moreotes under 
Skurtza, to which Botzaris justly attributed the defeat of his 
troops, so materially widened tlie breach between the Roumeliots 
and the Moreotes, that shortly alter, hearing that the Turks 
were advancing on Missolonghi, the former expressed their de- 
termination to leave the defence of Navarino to the peninsular 
troops, and return to defend their own homes. Accordingly, on 
the 30th instant, they ai'rived at Lugos, to the number of 3000, /5*"< ^ 
under their respective generals, Giavella, Karaiskachi, and Bot- 
zaris. The Moreotes, roused by this defection, now took arras 
with greater spirit ; and the rebel chiefs Zaimi and Londo, driven, 
from Kalamos by the English resident, returned to the Morea, 
having submitted to the Government, and began to raise troops 
in their native districts of Kalavrita. 

In the mean time, the Roumeli Valisee had, on the 10th of if^- 
March, reached loannina from Larissa. On the 20th he arrived 
with 15,000 men at Aita ; and early in April, he succeeded in 
accomplishing his entrance by the pass of Makrinoro into the 
plains of Western Greece. The Roumeliots, under Nota Bot- 
zaris and Izonga, had deserted their post, and crossed the 
Achelous, without once coming in contact with the enemy, 
leaving the whole country north of that river open to his ravages, 
wliile the inhabitants of the villages took refuge under British 
protection in Kalamos. At the orders or entreaties of the Mis- 
solonghi Government, Generals Izonga and Makris were induced, 
however, to recross the Achelous, and attempt to seize the passes 
of Ligovitzi ; but the enemy was beforehand with them, and af- 
ter a short conflict, they were obliged to retreat with all expedi- 
tion, and prepare for the defence of Anatolico and Missolonghi. 

To return to the siege of Navarino. The object of Ibrahim 
Pasha was now to take Sphacteria ; but it was not till the arrival 
of his ships from Suda with a third division of land forces, that 
he deemed it expedient to make the attempt. On the 6th of 
May, a large division of the Egyptian army commenced the at- '^^,^ 
tack on the fortress of Old Navarino, with a view to cover the 
debarkation of troops from the fleet. The spirited defence 
made by the garrison under Hadji Christo and the Archbishop of 
Modon, together with the approach of the Greek fleet, defeated 
the plan. In the evening, after a smart action, which continued 
all day, the enemy retired to their former position at Petrochori, 
while the fleet fell back in the direction of Modon. The Greek 



158 MODERN GREECE. 

squadron kept beating off the town, and only eight ships, includ- 
ing that of the brave Anastasius "^saraado, remained within tlie 
harbour. 

Early on the next morning, the Turkish fleet was again ob- 
served under weigh in the direction of the fortress, .and, about 
one o'clock, had advanced very near the island, while the 
Hydriot ships under Miaulis were becalmed at some distance 
from the shore. The island contained but one landing place, oij 
the western side, which was defended by a small battery" of three 
guns, and a garrison of 200 soldiers, under the direction of a 
brave young Hydriot, Stavro Sohini, and General Anagnostara. 
For the purpose of working tlie guns more effectually, a party of 
sailors, headed by Tfsamado, were landed from the ships in the 
bay ; and Prince Mavrocordato and Count Santa Rosa, a Pied- 
montese volunteer, remained on the island to direct the operations 
of the whole. If bravery could have compensated for the 
inequality of numbers, the Greeks would have triumphed. Fifty 
armed boats were sent off from the Turkish fleet, containing 
1500 men, on whose approach the little garrison opened their, 
fire, and for some time maintained their position nobly ; but at 
length, surrounded from behind, cutoff from relief or retreat, 
they were overpowered by numbers, and, after a desperate re- 
sistance, were to a man cut to pieces, their two brave leaders 
being among the last that fell. The divisions stationed at other 
points of the little island now fled in confusion, and all the Greek 
vessels in the harbour, exceptf^samado's, made their escape, pass- 
ing unopposed through the division of the enemy's fleet placed 
at the mouth of the harbour to detain them. Mavrocordato and 
the governor of Neo-kastro, both of whom were in the island, 
were so fortunate as to reach the remaining ship ; but when the 
boats reached the shore a second time, for the purpose of bringing 
off others, the fugitives that eagerly crowded into them were too 
many, and sunk them. A few moments after, "^sarnado, desperate- 
ly wounded, with a few followers, gained the beach, and was seen 
waving his cap for the assistance his countrymen could no longer 
render him. The Turks soon came up, and he fell, with 
his handful of men, under a shower of bullets. Not a Greek 
was now left alive on the Island, and the solitary ship of *§^samado 
had to make her way out through the fleet of the enemy, drawn 
up round the entrance of the harbour. During four hours of a 
dead calm, she maintained a desperate fight, but finally fought 
her way with great gallantry through the forty sail of the Egyp- 
tians, with the loss of two men killed and six wounded. Tliree 
hundred and fifty soldiers perished in the island, including the un- 



^ MODERN GREECE. 159 

fortunate Count Santa Rosa, who fought in the ranks with his 
musket and ataghan, and General Catzaro, besides nisety seamen 
in killed, wounded, and missing ; a greater number than Hydra 
had lost during the four years of the war.* 

Two days after the capture of the island, the garrison of Old , 
Navarino, who were now shut up with but little provisions, and 
water for only a few days, capitulated on condition of laying 
down their arms and retii-ing. For these favourable terms, they 
were unexpectedly indebted to two of the French officers in the 
Pasha's service ; and on die faith of their representations, they 
ventured to march out, about a thousand men in number, under 
the command of General Luca and an American Philhellene 
named Jarvis. Having surrendered their arms at the feet of the 
Pasha, they were escorted for a few miles by a small body of 
horse, and were then permitted to depart in safety. The 
Turkish ships, having entered the harbour, now opened a fire 
upon Neo-kastro, about fifty pieces of cannon being placed in 
battery on the land-side ; but not till the 23rd of May, after a 
week consumed in negotiation, the garrison marched out on the 
same terms as those of Navarino, and were embarked in Euro- 
pean vessels for Kalamata, with the exception of Generals 
latracco and Giorgio Mavromikhali, who were detained' prison- 
ers.! •'^y t^^® ^^^ °f ^^^^^ place, Ibrahim Pasha became posses- 
sed of the key to tlie entire western coast of the Morea, there 

* Mr. Emerson was at Hydra when the vessels arrived, bring^hig the melan- 
choly intelligence of their fate. The sight, he says, of the anxious and ago- 
nized groupes of mothers and widows crowding the rocks on the beach, was 
most heart-rending Count Santa Rosa had but a few months before come to 
Greece with Major Collegno, to offer his services to the Government, " disap- 
pointed in his attempt to free his own country from the Austrian Sultan.' 
Without money, and unacquainted with the language, he discovered his error 
in joining a cause he could not serve in any situation becoming his rank and 
talents. Three letters written shortly before his death, (Picture of Greece, 
vol. ii. p. 180,) exhibit the ardent affection and despondency of a heart-broken 
exile. He had intended to return to England at the end of the campaign, and 
speaks with fondness of his friends in this country; but on the day of the 
attack on Sphacteria, he disdained to flee ; like the brave Roland of 
Campbell, 

" he fell, and wished to fall." 

An account of the fatal conflict, drawn up by Mavrocordato's secretary, him- 
self an eye-witness, will be found in the Picture of Greece in 1825, vol. ii. 
p. 169. See also Emerson's Journal, in vol. i. pp. 139 — 144. Leake's Out- 
line, p. 167. 

t Leake, p. 168. Emerson, pp. 152, 193. Count Pecchio states, that the 
garrison of Old Navarino attempted to force a passage by night througii the 
enemy's camp ; that they were surpiised on the road, and obliged to 
surrender, with the exception of 140 Roumeliots, who opened themselves a 
road sword in hand ; that Ibrahim Pasha detained as prisoners Hadji Christo 
and the bishop of Modon, and set the re?t at liberty. Journal, p. 73. 



160 MODERN GREECE. 

being no other fortresses to oppose his progress, and the country 
consists of open plains, affording no impediment to the operations 
of cavalry ; while the beautiful harbour gave the enemy a secure 
hold to winter in. 

Shortly after the fall of Navarino, the Egyptian Pasha sus- 
tained a naval loss, which, though not of sufficient magnitude 
materially to affect the operations of the Ottoman fleet, served 
to revive the drooping spirits and rekindle the almost extinguish- 
ed ardour of the Moreotes. 

" Immediately after the loss of the Island, while the Greek 
fleet continued cruising off the coast, the squadron of the Pasha 
separated into two divisions, one of which remained in the 
vicinity and harbour of Navarino ; whilst the other, consisting of 
two frigates and four corvettes, with numerous transports, moved 
down to Modon, where on the 12th instant, they were followed by 
Miaulis, with four fire-ships and twenty-two brigs. In the eve- 
ning of the same day, a most favourable breeze setting in from 
the south-east, he made his signal for the fire-ships to enter the 
harbour. Besides the Egyptian squadron, there were likewise 
within, a number of other, Austrian, Ionian, and Sicilian craft, 
making in all about thirty-five or forty sail. The enemy, on 
the advance of the fire-ships, immediately attempted to cut their 
cables and escape ; but the same steady breeze which drove on 
the brulots, and blew direct into the harbour, prevented their 
egress. The consequence was, that they were thrown into the 
utmost confusion, ran foul of each other, and finally were driven, 
en masse, beneath the walls of the fortress ; where the brulots 
still advancing upon them, the whole Egyptian squadron, with a 
few Austrian and other ships, in all twenty-five, fell victims to 
the flames. Only a very few of the smaller European craft, 
which lay further out from the town, succeeded in making their 
escape, and brought the particulars of the event to the Pasha of 
Navarino. In the mean time, the missiles caused by the blow- 
ing up of the shipping and cannon, falling within the walls, set 
fire to a store-house containing a large quantity of ammunition 
and provisions, which blew up with a tremendous explosion, 
which was visible for several miles from sea. Owing to the 
panic on the first appearance of the Greeks, not the slightest 
opposition was made by the Egyptians ; and after destroying the 
squadron of the enemy, the brulottiers succeeded in regaining 
their own ships, without the loss of a single man." 

While the feelings of the Moreotes were still -vibrating be- 
tween joy and despondency, the cry for Colocotroni was again 
loudly raised. Some of the provinces had before demanded bis 



MODERN GREECE. l6l 

release, and he had himself besought the Government to allow him 
to engage the eneni}^, oflering his two sons as hostages. Two 
members of the Government were in favour of his release, and 
two against it ;* but, on the arrival of the President, it was 
referred to the legislative body, who decided the point in his 
favour, and a deputation proceeded to Hydra to conduct him 
back to Napoli.f He arrived on the 30th of May, and on the 
next day, his reconciliation to the Government was celebrated 
with all due ceremony, amid the acclamations of the populace. 
A general amnesty and oblivion were mutually agreedTto and 
ratified in the church of St. George ; after which Signor Tricoupi 
delivered an oration to the people and the soldiers in the grand 
square. Colocotroni replied without premeditation to the speech 
addressed to him by one of the legislative body. " In coming 
hither from Hydra, I have cast all rancour into the sea 5 do you 
so likewise ; bury in that gulf all your hatreds and dissensions : 
that shall be the treasure which you will gain" — alluding to the 
excavations in search of treasure which were then being made. 



* Coletti, Colocotroni' s principal enemy, was one of those who opposed his 
release. Conduriotti, considering Coletti as the suborner of the Roumeliot 
troops who had abandoned the camp, wished him to be expelled ; but, per- 
ceiving' that he should soon require his support against Colocotroni, he gave 
up this idea. Mavrocordato, however, was the most obnoxious to the Moreote 
paity. 

t " When I beheld Colocotroni sitting amid ten of his companions, pris- 
oners of state, and treated with respect by his guards, I called to mind the 
picture that Tasso draws of Satan in the council of devils. His neglected grey 
hairs fell upon his broad shoulders, and mingled with his rough beard, which, 
since his imprisonment, he had allowed to grovv as a mark of grief and revenge. 
His form is rugged and vigorous, his eyes full of fire, and his martial and 
savage figure resembled one of the sharp grey rocks that are scattered through- 
out the Archipelago." Such is the portrait of the old klepht, drawn by Count 
Pecchio. ' Mr. Emerson's description is not less picturesque, though he gives a 
different colouring to his hair. He obtained permission to visit the rebel chiefs 
at Hydra a short time before. " The generality of them exhibit nothing 
peculiar in their appearance, being, like the rest cf their countrymen, wild, 
savage-looking soldiers, clad in tarnished embroidered vests, and dirty jucta- 
nellas. Colocotroni was, however, easily distinguished from the rest by his 
particularly savage and uncultivated air. His person is low, but built like a 
Hercules, and his short bull neck is surmounted by a head rather larger than 
pi-oportion warrants, which, with its shaggy eye-brows, dark niustachioa, un- 
shorn beard, and raven hair falling in curls over his shoulders, formed a com- 
plete study for a painter. He had formerly been in the service of the English 
in the Ionian Islands, as a serjeant of guards, and spoke with peculiar pride of 
his acquaintance with several British officers. He was in high spirits at the 
prospect of his liberation.. . . During my visit, he spoke of his enemies in the 
Government with moderation and no appearance of rancour ; he, however, 
said little, but, on the name of Mavrocordato or Coletti being mentioned, he 
gathered his brow, compressed his lips, and baring his huge arm to the shoul- 
der, he flung it from him with desperate determination." — Picture of Greece, 
vol j. pp. 164, 167 ; vol. ii. p. 86. 

21 



162 ' MODERN GREECE. 

Proclamations were now issued by the Government, calling tli6 
inhabitants of the Morea to arms ; all the shops of Napoli were 
ordered to be closed, except a sufficient number of bakers and 
butchers, and the whole population was to join the standard of 
Colocotroni. By the 10th of June, he had assembled about 
8000 linen at Tripolitza. Pappa Flescia had already marched 
to garrison Arcadia, and Petro Bey was raising his followers in 
Maina. 

In the mean time, Miaulis, the Hydriote admiral, had deter- 
mined on a desperate but decisive service : this was no other 
than to enter the harbour of Suda, and attempt the destruction 
of the remainder of the Egyptian fleet. He was just about to 
sail, when news was brought, that the Turkish fleet had passed 
the Dardanelles, and was at that time within thirty miles of 
Hydra. Instantly signals were fired, and in a quarter of an 
hour, every anchor was weighed, every yard-arm spread with 
canvas, and the whole fleet steered for that island, to protect 
their homes. They had nearly reached it, when a caique came 
off with the gratifying intelligence that, on the 1st of June, the 
hostile fleet had been met in the channel of Cavo Doro by the 
fire-ships of the second Greek squadron under Saktouri, when a 
line-of-battle ship, (the Capitan Pasha's, who escaped by sailing 
in a smaller ship,) a corvette, and a frigate, were destroyed, and 
the Capitan Aga perished in the flames. Five transports also 
were taken, laden with stores and ammunition, which were safe- 
ly conveyed to Spetzia. The remainder of the fleet dispersed 
in all directions : one corvette was driven to Syra, where she 
was burned by the crew, after feigning to surrender, but 150 of 
the men were made prisoners. The larger body succeeded in 
reaching Rhodes ; but it was some time ere they could be re-as- 
sembled. This brilliant success, besides relieving Hydra, had a 
powerful effect in raising the spirits of the Greeks. The vessels 
contained a large proportion of the stores intended for the siege 
of Missolonghi. 

Miaulis now steering southward, was joined by Saktouri's 
squadron, making their united force amount to about seventy 
sail ; and it was resolved that the whole fleet after completing 
their provisioning at Milo, should proceed to Suda, where the 
Turkish and Egyptian fleets were now collected. It was not 
before the evening of the 12th that they reached the harbour, 
owing in part to stormy weather, and partly to delays arising 
from the insubordination of the seamen. On the 14th, a light 
breeze springing up, enabJed them to attack a division of the Ot- 
toman fleet in the outer harbour ; and at the expense of three 



MODERN GREECE. 163 

fire-ships and ten men killed, they destroyed a corvette with its 
equipage. They were prevented from further success chiefly by 
the dropping of the wind, and by the unwonted precaution of 
the Turks, who, in consequence of information given by a 
French schooner, had separated into four divisions. On the 
17th, a severe gale separated the Greek fleet, and they retired to 
Hydra, leaxang the Turkish admiral to proceed unmolested to 
Navarino, where he landed a reinforcement of 5000 men. 
Thence he pursued his course with seven frigates and several 
smaller vessels to Missolonghi, where he arrived on the 10th 
of July. 

The siege of tliat place had now been carried on by Reschid 
Pasha for upwards of two months, without making any impres- 
sion or gaining any important advantage. On the 27th of April, 
the first division of 5000 had made their appearance, and they 
were soon followed by other parties ; but their whole artillery 
consisted of only two pieces of small cannon, and they were 
already in want of provisions. On being joined, however, by 
Yousef, Pasha of Patras, their numbers amounted to 14,000 
men, and they had five cannon and one mortar ; others were 
subsequently obtained from Lepanto, ana Patras. Several smart 
skirmishes took place. On the 6th of May, a body of 200 Rou- 
meliots attacked the enemy's position at the village of Pappadia, 
wliich was defended by 2000 men, under Banousa Sebrano, and 
succeeded in dislodging him, with a slight loss on the part of the 
Greeks. The Turks lost sixty killed and a number of prisoners. 
They then took up a new position, and were again obliged to re- 
tire before the Greeks with considerable loss, and to send to the 
camp for succours. At Anatolico, similar success attended the 
efforts of the Greeks in repelling an assault. On the 10th of 
May, the Turks, having completed their preparations for attack, 
commenced throwing bombs and shot into Missolonghi, which 
the garrison returned with equal vigour. A constant discharge 
of shot and shells was now kept up by the besiegers, who grad- 
ually advanced their lines and position nearer to the walls ; but 
very little mischief was done by the artillery, and the spirit of 
the garrison and inhabitants remained unbroken. Their provis- 
ions and ammunition, however, became nearly exhausted, and 
both parties were looking with anxiety for their respective fleets. 

On the arrival of the Capitan Pasha in July, the Seraskier 
was enabled to press the siege with increased vigour. The 
boats of the Ottoman fleet entered the lagoons, and the non- 
arrival of the Hydriote squadron rendered the situation of the 
besieged very critical. The garrison of Patras were able with 



164 MODERN GREECE. 

impunity to ravage the country in the neighbourhood of Clarenza 
and Gastouni ; and about the middle of July, the latter town 
was almost totally burned by a party of Turkish cavalry. Ana- 
tolico surrendered on the 21st of July, the garrison of 300 men 
being made prisoners of war; and on the 1st of August, the 
Turkish commander, apprehensive of the approach of the Greek 
fleet, ordered a general attack upon Missolonghi. The works 
on the land-side were assailed in four places, while thirty boats 
occupied the lake. The Osmanlys were, however, every where 
repulsed, with the loss of part of their artillery ; and two days after 
(Aug. 3) the Greek fleet, consisting of about twenty-five brigs, 
made its appearance. So critical was the moment of their ar- 
rival, that the town is stated to have been on the point of capitu- 
lating, their ammunition and provisions being exhausted, and 
tlieir supply of water being cut off, when a dark night and a fa- 
vourable wind enabled the Greek squadron securely to pass the 
Turkish line, and to take up a position between them and the 
town. On the 4th and 5th of the month, they succeeded in de- 
stroying two small ships of war, as well as all the boats on the 
lagoon, and in throwin ^sufficient stores into the town. About 
mid-day, the Turkish fleet, without firing a shot, withdrew, part 
of it retiring behind the casties of the Gulf of Corinth, and the 
greater part making sail for the ^gean sea, in the direction of 
Durazzo. This appears to have been a feint, for they soon 
afterwards steered southwards for Rhodes, followed by the Greek- 
squadron. 

The Seraskier was still sufiiciently strong to maintain his po- 
sition without much interruption ; and he continued the siege, 
though with scarcely any other result except that of loss to his 
own troops, in expectation of reinforcements from the Egyptian 
fleet fitting out at Alexandria. A bold but unsuccessful attempt 
had been made, on the 10th of August, to destroy this fleet. 
Three fire-ships succeeded in penetrating into the harbour un- 
discovered, but a sudden change of wind defeated the project, 
and though the brulots were burned, they did no mischief. Had 
this attempt succeeded, it would have greatly altered the aspect 
of affairs ; but in November, the Turco-Egyptian fleet appeared 
lin the ^gean Sea. 

In the Morea, the campaign had proved the most disasti'ous 
that the Greeks had hitherto experienced. After the surrender 
of Navarino and Neo-kastro, Ibrahim Pasha remained there only 
a few days, for the purpose of directing the repair of the fortifi- 
cations and the erection of a new battery on the island, and then, 
dividing his forces, advanced on Arcadia and Kalamatq. The 



MODERN GREECE. 165 

Jatter place, which possessed neitlier fortress nor defence, he 
gained possession of, after a well-maintained fight with a body of 
Greeks. But at Aghia, a strong position on the mountain which 
overhangs the town of Ai'cadia, a desperate conflict took place 
between tlie other detachment of Ibralimi's army and the^Greeks 
under Pappa Flescia, supported by a few German officers. That 
valorous priest had taken post at the head of 800 men, but 1 50 
only remained widi him, the otliers ha\dng fled ; and the whole 
of this valiant band perished sword in hand, overpowered by 
numbers. Pappa Flescia fell after performing prodigies of va- 
lour.* Ibrahim Pasha admitted a loss, on his part, of 250 men. 
After this victory, the Egyptians, in advancing on Arcadia, re- 
ceived a check from General Coliopulo, and fell back several 
miles ; and on crossing the mountain called Makriplaghi, which 
separates the plain of Messenia from the valley of the Upper 
Alpheius, he sustained the loss of 150 men from the troops of 
Colocotroni, who was now advancing to occupy the passes ; but 
at length, after various shirmishes, in which the Greeks were 
generally worsted, Ibrahim Pasha succeeded in reaching Leon- 
dari. 

It was now in vain to think of saving Tripolitza, which con- 
tamed no garrison ; and orders were therefore sent to the in- 
habitants to burn the town. Collecting whatever portion of their 
property they were able to remove, they surrendered their houses 
and their standing crops to the flames, and retre?ited towards 
Argos and Napoli di Romania. On the 20tli of June, the Egyp- 
tians entered the abandoned and half-demolished capital ; and 
three days after, hastening to profit by his advantage, Ibrahim 
Pasha advanced on Napoli. Colocotroni, it seems, imagining 
that the Pasha's object would be to open a communication with 
Patras, had drawn off all his troops to occupy the passes in that 
quarter, thus leaving the route to Napoli undefended. When news 
arrived of his approach, Demetrius Ypsilanti, " good at need," 

* Pappa Flessa, or Flescia, alias Gregorius Dikaios, at this time minister of 
the interior, was one of the most zealous apostles of the revolution, to which 
cause, however, he did credit only by his bravery. A priest by profession, he 
lived surrounded with a numerous harem. A patriot par excellence, he en- 
riched himself amid the miseries of his country. It is some proof of virtuous 
feeling in the Greeks, that though his mUitciry talents and courage and his 
valuable services procured him official employment, his immoralities gave 
general umbrage, and he was contemned by all parties. Count Pecchio met 
him on the road between Argos and Tripolitza, preceded by his harem and 
two pipe-bearers, in the oriental style, and with all the pomp of a pasha. He 
was handsome, and his countenance had even an expression of majesty, adapt- 
ed to command the homage of the people ; yet'he was far from popular. — See 
Pict. of Greece, vol. i. p. 89 ; vol. ii. p. 136. 



166 ^ MODERN GREECE. 

with about 250 men, hastened to occupy the village of Mylos 
(the Mills). 

" Early on Saturday morning, the Egyptian line was seen de- 
scending the hills which lead to the rear of the village. About 
eleven o'clock they had gained the plain ; but, instead of making 
any attempt on Mylos, they seemed to be only intent on pursuing 
their course towards Argos, and, for this purpose, passed down a 
narrow plain lying between the village and the surrounding hills. 
Just, however, as the rear of their line had passed Mylos, a vol- 
ley of musketry was discharged by the Greeks, a ball from which 
wounded Col. Seve, a French renegade, who, under the name 
of Soliman jSey, has long been the chief military assistant of the 
Pasha, and the agent for the organisation of the Egyptian troops. 
Immediately the line halted, and, after some little delay, the main 
body passed on towards Ai'gos, whilst about 2000 of the rear- 
guard remained behind, and advanced to the attack of the vil- 
lage. 

" Fortunately, the nature of the ground was such as to render 
the "assistance of the cavalry impossible. They were obliged, 
after some useless manoeuvres in front of the Greek intrench- 
ment, to retire with the loss of a few men. The main body, 
however, charged the garrison so closely, that, driven from every 
post, they were obliged to retire behind the fence of an orchard 
on the sea-shore, where they had a defence of three tambours, 
or low walls, between them and the enemy. The two first of 
these were quickly forced, and, driven behind the third, with no 
possibility of further retreat, and nearly surrounded by the over- 
powering numbers of the enemy, their case now seemed despe- 
rate. The Egyptians, at length, advanced almost close to the 
third wall : ' Now, my brothers,' exclaimed a Greek capitano, 
' is the moment to draw our swords.' With those words, he 
flung away his musket, and, springing over the fence, followed 
by the greater body of his men, attacked the enemy with his 
ataghan. A desperate conflict ensued for some moments, till the 
Egyptians, terrified by the sudden enthusiasm of their foes, at 
length gave way, and commenced retreating towards the plain, 
whither they were pursued, for some distance, by the victorious 
Greeks.* Here they again rallied, and formed in order; but, 
instead of again renewing the attack, they left the Greeks in 
possession of the village, and continued their march to rejoin 

* It appears from other accounts, that several misticos, which lay close to the 
shore, opened a destructive fire upon the Egyptians, and contributed not a lit- 
tle to their defeat. 



MODERN GREECE. 167 

their comrades, who about mid-day encamped witliin three or 
four miles of Argos. 

" The inhabitants of that town, on the first notice of the ene- 
my's approach, had fled to Napoli di Romania, with what little 
of tlieir property diey were able to carry off, leaving their houses 
and homes to the mercy of the enemy. On Sunday morning, 
the flames, which were clearly visible at Napoli in that direction, 
told that the Pasha's troops were in motion : they had advanced 
to the town, and, finding it totally deserted, set fire to it in va- 
rious quarters, and reduced the whole to ruins. The remainder 
of the day, all was quiet ; but early on Monday morning a party 
of cavalry were discovered on their march towards Napoli di 
Romania. All was instantly in bustle and confusion on their 
approach ; however, as they proved to be only about 700 in 
number, tlie panic soon subsided ; and a party of mounted 
Greeks, about eighty, who sallied out to meet them, succeeded 
in putting them to flight, with the loss of one man. They then 
retired towards their encampment, and the same evening, having 
struck his tents, the Pasha set out on his return towards Tripo- 
litza. Colocotroni, who had been advertised of his march to- 
wards Napoli, had, with all haste, returned from Karitena, to 
occupy the Parthenian passes in his rear, and by that means cut 
off his return towards Modon ; he was now stationed with a large 
body of troops on the Bey's Causeway, where the slightest op- 
position must have proved fatal to the Pasha's army. Such, 
however, was his superior knowledge of the country and the 
movements of the Greeks, that dividing his line into two columns, 
he passed on each side of the Moreotes, and uniting again in 
their rear, had reached Tripolitza in safety ere Colocotroni was 
aware of his departure from Mylos. Here he had again estab- 
lished his head-quarters." 

Napoli di Romania presented at this moment a scene of con- 
fusion, perplexity, and disorder, not easily to be described. Mr. 
Emerson, who arrived there on the 30th of June, when the con- 
sternation was at its height, says, that nothing could exceed the 
melancholy and filthy scene. " On every side, around the walls, 
were pitched the tents of the unfortunate refugees from Tripolitza 
and Argos, who had not been permitted to enter the city, for 
fear of increasing the contagious fever ; and within the walls the 
streets were thronged with soldiers, who had assembled from all 
quarters for the defence of the town, or their own protection. 
Every shop was closed, and it was with difficulty that we could 
procure a few biscuits, some olives, and a little cloying sweet 
wine for supper ; the peasantry in the vicinity having all fled on 



168 MODERN GREECE. 

the appearance of the Egyptians, and no longer bringing in the 
necessary supplies of provisions for the inhabitants of Napoli. 
All the houses were filled with soldiers ; my own lodgings were 
occupied by eighteen. The streets were every where in con- 
fusion with the quarrels of the new-comers and the inhabitants, 
and the utmost efforts of the regular corps were scarcely suffi- 
cient to keep down the turbulence of the undisciplined soldiery. 
During the night, the whole body continued under arms, in the 
public square, awaiting every moment a general insurrection, 
threatened by the irregular troops, to plunder the town, and 
make up their deficiency of pay. This, however, did not occur ; 
and after a sleepless night of alarm and anxiety, morning broke, 
and found all in a state of comparative quiet. Every Greek 
whom I met, appeared at the acme of perplexity ; and their 
gratitude for their present escape was almost overcome by their 
anxiety for future events. 

" The Government seemed paralysed at the successes of the 
enemy, and at thus seeing a formerly despised foe advance 
openly beneath their very walls, and again return unmolested 
through the heart of their country. Neither were their hopes 
by any means raised on the receipt of a letter from Colocotroni, 
who was in the vicinity of Tripolitza, in which he loudly com- 
plained of the conduct of his troops, of their pusillanimity in 
formerly retreating and leaving every pass undisputed to the 
enemy; adding, that now, though his numbers were by no 
means deficient, and a spirited attack on Tripolitza might be 
attended with glorious results, he found it impossible to induce a 
single soldier to follow him." 

But they had still another source of perplexity in those internal 
factions and foreign intrigues to which the failure of the cause 
has hitherto been chiefly attributable. About this time, a French 
faction started up, headed by a General Roche, who had in- 
April arrived at Napoli, furnished with credentials from the 
Greek Committee of Paris. This gentleman professed himself 
a warm and disinterested Philhellenist, whose sole object was to 
obtain a thorough knowledge of the state of the country for the 
information of his colleagues, and he soon insinuated himself 
into the good graces of the Executive. A short time only had 
elapsed before he began to develope further \'iews, by reprobat- 
ing the idea of a republican government, and declaring his 
opinion to be in favour of a monarchy : he even went so far as 
to propose as sovereign the second son of the Duke of Orleans. 
This was merely thrown out, however, in conversation, till after 
the fall of Navarino, when he openly offered his plan to Govern- 



MODERN GREECE. 169 

ment, promising, in case it should be accepted, the aid of 12,000 
disciplined French troops. Although he met with no encourage- 
'ment, the intrigues of the General and of the French Commo- 
dore De Rigny, still continued, and every new disaster gave a 
fresh opening to their efforts ; its expediency was urged m 
the public cafes, and a party was even formed in its favour 
among tlie members of Government. Mavrocordato, Tricoupi, 
and the Hydriote party, however, strongly opposed it, declaring 
that, were the protection or interference of any foreign power 
found requisite, that of Great Britain would be the most efficient. 
In fact, while Capt. Hamilton* was at Napoli, a deputation from 
the Islands had solicited him to take them under British pro- 
tection, — a request with which he, of course, explained to them 
that he had not authority to comply. The clamours and com- 
plaints of the French and English parties becoming daily more 
annoying, iMavrocordato repaired to Hydra, to unite with the 
primates in urging the fleet again to put to sea, in order, by some 
favourable diversion, to allay the tumult of faction ; but the 
sailors, taking advantage of the alarming crisis, refused to embark 
unless their pay (already amounting to six or seven dollars a 
month) were doubled, and two months paid in advance. This 
conduct was the more disgraceful, as their wages had always 
been regularly paid, even when the pay of the army had heeix 
allowed to run in arrears. On the 20th of July, another instal- 
ment of the loan fortunately arrived to rekindle the patriotism of 
the Hydriote seamen ; and they consented to sail in pursuit of 
the Capitan Pasha's fleet, which had been suffered, as akeady 
mentioned, to proceed to Missolonghi. 

Whether it was owing to the loan or to the exigencies of the 
country, does not appear, but, towards the end of July, the 
French faction was so fast giving way, and the majority of the 
populace, as well as of the Government, so strongly and openly 
declared themselves in favour of British protection, that General 
Roche drew up a protest against their decision, in which, strange 
to say, he was joined by a young American officer of the name 
of Washington, who had arrived in Greece in June, furnished 
with credentials from the American Greek Committee at Boston. 

* This distinguished officer has the rare good fortune of being nearly as 
much respected by the Osmanlys as by the Greeks ; and the influence of his 
name in the Levant is as great as that of Sir Sidney Smith once was in Syria, 
or that of Nelson all over the Mediterranean. By the Greeks, the Chaplain 
to H. M. ship Cambrian assures us, " Captain Hamilton is regarded as a sort 
of guardian angel, whose benevolence is as unbounded as his power ; yet, he 
has never once favoured them at the expense of justice, or when it interfered 
with the coarse of duty." — Swan's Journal, vol. ii. p. 155. 

22 



170 MODERN (SREECE. 

In this imbecile document, the French royalist and the American 
republican, united by a common hatred of England, affect to con- 
sider the wish for British interference as an insult to their 
respective nations.* The paper was, of course, treated by all 
parties with merited contempt ; and Mr. Washington, the soi- 
disant representative of America, shortly afterwards left Greece, 
under rather awkward circumstances.f In the mean time, it 
was determined at Hydra, that fresh deputies shoidd be sent to 
London, while Signor Tricoupi was to proceed to Corfu, to con- 
sult the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Isles. Accord- 
ingly, the eldest son of Miaulis and one of the Hydriote primates 
embarked for England at the end of August, and General Roche 
soon after left Greece for his own country. 

* A verbatim copy is given by the Rev. Mr. Swan (Journal, vol. ii. p. 156). 
We give the first two or three sentences, which contain the gist of the protest. 
" Les sous-dgrds Deputes des Philell^nes de France el des Etats Unis de V^miri- 
que, ont eu connaissance que des individus dans leur simple qualite de citoyens 
Grecs, se soni permis de se meltre ix, la tile d^une faction, et contre les institutions 
de leur pays, ont sign6 et fait circuler une diclaraiton extr^mement injurieuse au 
caraddre de leur nation et de leur gouvernement, qui ont toujours niontre Vinti- 
rit le phis vif pour la prosptrite et lind6fendance de la Grtce Les sous-sign6s 
savent que le Senat et le Corps Exicutif, dans leurs sdances du 22 de ce mois, ont 
d6cr'l6 de demander des secours au gouvernement des Isles loniennes pour la 
conservation de leur liberti politique, menacie par I' invasion d'lbraim Pasha. 
Quoqu'il ait 6li bien pinible aux sous-signes de voir le pen de confiance que le 
Senat Grec, dans cette circonslance si grave, a nns dans les JVations Franqaise et 
Americaine, Us respecthrent nianmoins ses decisions," fee. Jn conclusion, they 
demand an explicit explanation, that they may lay the matter before " their 
respective committees!" 

(Signed) " Le General W. Roche. 

" W. ToRINGHEUIT WASHINGTON. 

" Nauplie, le 28 Juillet, 1825." 

t Emerson, pp. 291, 2. In the reply of the Greek Government, it is remark- 
ed, that " M. Washington n'est pas un deput6 d'aucun comite : il n'est qu'un 
simple pariiculier." Thus, he would seem to have been a mere adventurer. 
They go on to say, that the document by which they place their national 
independence under the protection of his Britannic Majesty, is not the act of a 
few individuals, but of all the deputies, primates, the army, and the navy of 
Greece; that they complain of no govicrnment, but that they do complain of 
certain agents of some European powers,* who, in disregard of the neutrality 
proclaimed on the part of their governments at the congress of Verona and at 
Laybach, have pursued a conduct hostile to the dearest interests of Greece, and 
have endeavouied to change the form of their government} " et personne ne 
connait cela mieux que le Giniral Roche." — Swan, vol. ii. p. 160. Ridiculous 
and arrogant as appears the conduct of these foreigners, it is but just to add, 
that they have not gone much further than certain English Phjlhellenists, 
respecting whom Prince Mavrocordato is compelled to say, in a letter to 
Mr. Blaquiere : — " The conduct on the part of these gentlemen is well worthy 
of the liberty of which they wish to boast. Can there be a more cruel des- 
potism than that of a foreigner, who, without any right, wishes to command, 
without paying the least regard to the existing laws .'' Does the first comer 
think that lie can tread us under his feet, or are we thought capable of being 
led by the nose hy the first intrig^uer ?" — Blaquiere's Second Visit, p. 84, 



MODERN GREECE. 171 

The Russian party appears to have now become quite extinct. 
Its death-blow was a semi-official note, put fortli in the pre- 
ceding year by the Russian cabinet, in which the idea was thrown 
out of forming Greece into principalities, on the same plan as 
tlie Dacian provinces ; one principality to consist of Eastern 
Greece (Thessaly, Boeotia, and Attica) ; a second of Western 
Greece, (Epirus and Acarnania,) from the Austrian boundary to 
the Gulf of Corinth ; tlie third of the Morea and Candia ; and 
tlie islands to remain under a municipal government nearly in 
tlieir former state. This middle course, it seems to have been 
thought, afforded the best basis for a treaty of peace between 
the belligerent parties, under the mediation of the emperor. To 
the Greeks, however, the proposal appeared both insidious and 
degrading ; and it had been the occasion of a spirited letter ad- 
dressed by M. Rodios, secretary of the Greek Executive, to the 
British Government, bearing date Aug. 12, 1824, but which did 
net reach this country till the following November. The letter 
contains the following remarkable declaration. " The Greek na- 
tion, as well as its government, whose organ I have the honour to 
be, in offering their homage to his Britannic Majesty through 
your Excellency, solemnly declare, that they prefer a glorious 
death to the disgraceful lot intended to be imposed upon them." 
]\'Ii-. Canning's reply (dated Dec. 1, 1824,) assured the Greek 
Government, that Great Britain would " lake no part in any at- 
tempt to impose upon Greece by force a plan for the re-estab- 
lishment of peace contrary to its wishes ;" and that it might de- 
pend on our continuing to observe a strict neutrality ; but this 
was all, it was added, that could reasonably be required of the 
British ministers.* It was at least all that, under existing circum- 
stances, the unhappy Greeks were warranted to expect, or that 
the policy of England enabled it to concede. The object of the 
deputation sent to this country in 1825, was, therefore, to consult 
the friends of the cause in England on the most expeditious and 
advantageous means of terminating the war, and to obtain the suc- 
cour and support of certain well-known individuals, rather than 
to make a renewed application to tlie British Government.f 
To avoid an unnecessary interruption of our narrative, the 

* " Cofnnected as we are with the Porte," Mr. Canning goes on to say, " by 
the existing friendly relations, and by ancient treaties which the Porte has 
not violated, it can certainly not be expected that England should commence 
hostilities which that power has not provoked, and take part in a contest which 
is not ours." Both the Letter of ' M. Rodios and Mr. Canning's Reply will be 
found in the Annual Register for 1825, pp. 56* — 60*. 

t The assistance of Lord Cochrane was more especially pressed by young 
Miaulis. 



ITS MODERN GREECE. 

State of affairs in Eastern Greece during the year 1825 has not 
been distinctly adverted to, as they had little influence on the 
course of events ; but the death of Odysseus, which took place 
m June, and the circumstances which led to it, are of too inter- 
esting a nature to be passed over. This distinguished capitanos, 
the son of a Thessalian klepht, but a native of Ithaca,^ had been 
brought up by Ali Pasha of loannina ;f a bad school, in which 
he s said to have learned how to play the tyrant. He was 
among the first to join the insurgents ; and from his favourite 
haunts among the caves of Parnassus, he harassed the Turkish 
armies by cutting off their supplies. In September 1822, at the 
head of about 200 palikars, he presented himself to the Athenians, 
who, " thinking that they had an entire right to dispose as they 
liked of their own citadel, reconquered by their own exertions, 
resigned it, together with themselves and their property to the 
ambiguous protection of Odysseus." The Government had the 
prudence immediately to confirm their choice, and appointed 
him captain-general of Eastern Greece. J The whole power, 
civil and military, legislative and executive, was thus placed in 
his hands, and he is said not greatly to have abused it. In imi- 
tation of his old master, he established an excellent police ; and 
the Athenians were at least the gainers by the change which 
gave them a Greek, instead of a Turkish master. 

Such was the man whom Col. Stanhope, mistaking the crafty 
robber for a philanthropic liberal, — the despot for a republican, 
was anxious to see placed at the head of the Greek nation, and 
to whose malignant hatred of Mavi-ocordato he so imprudently 
lent himself. <§> Considering the President as the greatest obsta- 

* Hence his heroic cognomen, Ulysses. 

t See page 81. 

I Waddington, p. 76. Demetrius Ypsilanti and Niketas had been commis- 
sioned by the Executive to take possession of Athens ; but they found them- 
selves possessed of only a nominal authority. Odysseus had been captain of 
Livadia, and he had acquired popularity by his military exploits. 

§ See Stanhope's Greece, pp. 125, 134, 197. " 1 have been constantly with 
Odysseus. He has a very strong mind, a good heart, and is brave as his sword ; 
he governs with a strong arm, and is the only man in Greece that can preserve 
order. He is for a strong government, for conslitutional rights, and for vigo- 
rous efforts against the enemy.". ." The chief Odysseus has been a mountain 
robber. . has refused to give up Miens to a iceak government,^ and has lately sym- 
pathised with the people, and taken the liberal course in politics. He is a 
brave soldier, has great power, and promotes public liberty. Just such a man 
Greece requires. . . .He is shrewd and ambitious, and has played the tyrant, but 
is now persuaded that the road to fame and wealth, is by pursuing good gov- 
ernment. He therefoi'e follows this course, aad supports the people and the 
republic. Negris, who once signed his sentence of death, is now (May 1824) 
his minister." " The fact is," remarks Mr. Waddington, in commenting upon 
these panegyrical expressions, "that Odysseus, to gain any end, will profess 



MODERN GREECE. 17S 

cle to his ambitious designs, Odysseus, in common with Coloco- 
troni, ahvays singled him out as the especial object of his jealousy 
and hatred, never speaking of him without contempt ; and in 
their English friends, they found persons too willing to assist in 
propagating dieir calumnies both in Greece and in this country. 
The breach which might possibly have been healed between the 
contending parties, was thus irremediably widened. The fall of 

any principles ; and as the Colonel was believed to be the dispenser of the good 
thiugs collected at Missolonghi, and to possess influence over the future distri- 
bution of the loan, he was obviously a person to be gained. Behold, then, the 
robber Odysseus, the descendant from a race of robbers, the favourite pupil of 
AH Pasha, the soldier whose only law through life had been his sword, sudden- 
ly transformed into a benevolent, liberal, philanthropic republican ! It is true, 
indeed, that in 1821, Odysseus signed his name to a constitution dictated at 
Salona by Theodore JNegris, in wliich there is one article expressly specifying 
a wish for a. foreign conslilntional monarch,; but circumstances. I suppose, and 
principles are now changed. However, it is not at last impossible, that Odys- 
seus may be sincere in his desire that Greece should be left to govern herself. 
The little kingdom of Eastern Hellas suits him very well ; and in the probable 
anarchy of the ' Hellenic Republic,' he may tbresee the means of securing that 
independence which, in fact, he possesses at present. The Central Govern- 
ment, probably dreading some such intention on his part, are now elevating 
Goura in opposition to his master. Their hopes, indeed, of establishing any 
degree of legal authority in that province, rest a good deal on the disunion of 
these two chiefs." — Waddington, p. 82. Colonel Stanhope writes to Mavro- 
cordato, on one occasion: " Among these bad men, the most odious and black- 
hearted are those who are intriguing in the dark to saddle on the Greek people 
a foreign king." Whether the Colonel meant to pun on the Prince's name, or 
not, we learn from Mr. Blaquiere, that he meant Mavrocordato to take it to 
himself; for he had accused him of intriguing in concert with the metropolitan 
Ignatius for that purpose. This cool insult, the Prince rebuts with equal dig- 
nity and temper. " I have nothing to appropriate to myself of all that he 
writes. If he is attached to our constitution, I think that he whose boast it is 
to have contributed to its formation ought to be much more so than any other. 
I know (and have even all the documents in my hands) that M. Negris ad- 
dressed, more than eigliteen months ago, circulars in favour of a monarchical 
government, of which the ex-king of Westphalia, Jerome, was to be the bead ; 
and I also know that I was the first to combat his opinion. Can this M. Ne- 
gris be the bad man of Col. Stanhope .'' I know positively also, that under the 
shadow of the constitution, several captains do that which the greatest despots 
in the world would not, perhaps, do ; that they break legs and arms, and leave 
in this state of dreadful torture innocent men to perish ; that they kill, that they 
hang, that they destroy men without previous trial ; that they revolt ; that they 
even betray their country. Can these be the Colonel's good men? These" 
latter I have always opposed, even at the peril of my life." — Blaquiere's Se- 
cond Visit, p. 83. That this is no libel on Odysseus, may be inferred from Mr. 
Waddington's brief description. " Odysseus is in no respect distinguished 
from his meanest soldier, otherwise than by the symmetry of his form, and the 
expressive animation of a countenance which, though handsome is far from 
prepossessing ; for an habitual frown and a keen and restless eye, betoken 
cruelty, suspiciousness, and inconstancy ; and those who have derived their 
opinion of his character from the observation of his exterior, and the rumour 
of his most notorious actions, pronounce him to be violent, avaricious, vindic- 
tive, distrustful, inexorable. Those, on the other hand, who believe themselves 
to have penetrated more deeply into his feelings and principles, consider him 
to be under the exclusive guidance of policy and interest." 



174 MODERN GREECE. 

Mavrocordato was the favourite object of the military party ; and 
on their accession to power, it has been seen, he was compelled 
to take refuge in Hydra. Odysseus is represented as having, 
in 1824, offered to mediate between the Colocotroni party and the 
Constitutional Government at Argos ; and the surrender of Na- 
poli is ascribed by Capt. Humphreys to his interference.* It 
seems to have been his object at that time, to secure his share 
of the loan, his soldiers being, according to his own account, in 
long arrears of pay. By Conduriotti, then president, he was 
well received ; but by the other members of the Government, 
he was viewed with a distrust which was not lessened by his re- 
quiring a body-guard of ten followers. This was very properly 
objected to, but no open rupture took place. There was even 
a talk of nominating him to the command of the forces opposed 
to Dervish Pasha ; but this nomination being delayed, and his 
demands refused, he took offence, and, accompanied by the 
Englishman Trelawney, who had married his sister, and by 
General Karaiskaki, quitted Napoli in disgust. f Soon after, 
learning that Goura, formerly his lieutenant, had been nominated to 
replace him in the command of Athens, he disbanded his soldiers, 
and retired to his fortified cave at Parnassus. This strong hold he 
had lately prepared, in case of being reduced to extremities. It 
was a natural excavation, capable of accommodating 2000 per- 
sons, and containing a spring of fresh water. It could be reached 
only by ascending a perpendicular cliff a hundred feet in height, 
which was accomplished by means of three ladders, successively 
drawn up after passing them ; a number of descents and windings 
then conducted from the small platform to the interior. Here 
Odysseus had placed a few pieces of cannon, a supply of small 
arms, and ammunition and provisions sufficient for a ten years' 
siege ; and hither he removed his family and his treasures, de- 
termining to separate himself entirely from the Greeks and their 
cause, and to make his own terms with their enemies. The se- 
quel, we give in the words of Mr. Emerson. 

" The Pasha of Negropont had been one of his early friends, 
and he now renewed the acquaintance for the purpose of answer- 

* Humphreys, p. 232. This gentleman represents Coletti to have been the 
implacable enemy of his friend Ulysses, who is stated to have been nevertheless 
at this time determined to support the Government. 

t Humphreys, pp. 260 — 262. Capt, Humphreys states, that Ulysses was 
offered a command at Hydra, and refused it, as placing him too much in the 
power or at the disposal of the Government. The distrust was therefore mu- 
tual. Previously to his leaving Napoli, he is said to have been shot at when 
sitting at a window in the house of Niketas. This circumstance, if authenti- 
cated, would amply justify his " disgust," but it requires to be substantiated. 
Negris, whom he left behind at Napoli, died there after a short illness. 



MODEBN GREECE. 17.5 

ihg his own views : what those were have never been understood 
clearly, but his means of accomplishing them were, at least, ex- 
tremely liable to suspicion. Frequent letters, and, at length, fre- 
quent conferences, of all which the Government had due notice, 
passed between him and the Pasha. The object of UlysSfes is 
stated to have been the possession of Negropont ; it is at least 
evident, as well from his former conduct as from his treating 
with an inferior, that he had no intention of attaching himself to 
the party of the Sultan. Be it as it may, he was now declared 
a traitor by the Government. Unable or perhaps too haughty 
to give an explanation of his motives to his personal enemies, he 
prepared to meet force by force. Goura, his own captain, and a 
wretch who had owed his fortune to Ulysses, was placed at the 
head of the forces in Attica, to blockade the cave and reduce 
him to allegiance. Ulysses immediately assembled his foUow^ers, 
but never on any occasion accepted of the assistance of the 
•Turks. Some slight skirmishes had already taken place ; but, 
as the soldiers of Ulysses were daily deserting, as well from an 
umvillingness to fight against their countrymen and government, 
as from being allured, by the threats and promises of Goura, he 
was beginning to feel himself somewhat straitened ; and gradually 
retreating towards the country north of Euboea, he continued to 
hold out against his pursuers, whilst the cave was left in charge 
of his family and a proper garrison." 

This was in March 1825. Towards the close of April, de- 
serted by his followers, Ulysses had retreated, with a very few 
attendants, to a monastery in the vicinity of Talanda, which 
Goura proceeded to blockade. Suddenly, it is said, on condition 
of being brought to trial, he came, unattended, and surrendered 
himself to Goura, by whom he was sent prisoner to the acropolis 
'at Athens, the scene of his former power. Here he was con- 
fined in the lofty Venetian tower, where he lay, till the 5th of 
June, when his death took place under somewhat mysterious cir- 
cumstances. The story circulated was, that, in attempting to 
make his escape, the rope by which he was lowering himself 
broke, and he was dashed to pieces on the pavement at the base 
of the tower. Mr. Emerson inclines to believe that he was se- 
cretly put to death by order of the Government, but he gives no 
valid reason for fastening so black a charge on the Executive. 
If he fell by unfair means, the character of Goura would hot be 
wronged by the supposition that his jealousy and his fears might 
conspire to prompt him to an act by which he would get rid of 
the man he had treated with such ingratitude and baseness. And 
Mr. Swan states, that this was reported to be the case ; that 



176 MODEllN GREECE. 

Goura let down the rope before the window of his prison, and 
that Ulysses, supposing it to have been furnished by friends with- 
out, fell into the snare.* 

In the mean time, the cave of Ulysses in mount Parnassus, 
which was left under command of Trelawney, was closely block- 
aded, and every attempt was made to gain possession. Ulys- 
ses had been himself escorted to the spot, and forced to sign a 
summons to Trelawney to surrender, which was not complied 
with.f Among the inmates of the cavern was a Captain Feriton, 
a native of Scotland, who had arrived a mere adventurer in 
Greece the preceding winter, and, during his intercourse with 
the European residents in the Morea, had proved himself to be 
divested of every principle or feeling of a gentleman. He had 
even stooped so low, Mr. Emerson states, as to offer his services 
to a person in power as the assassin of Ulysses, for the remuner- 
ation of a few dollars. This proposal, so far from being accept- 
ed, led to his being ordered to leave Napoli,J on which he 

* The official account, which is perfectly distinct and consistent, is given by 
Mr. Swan (vol. ii. p. 95), together with the affidavit of the physician. Mr. 
Emerson supposes the story to have been " feigned by the government, to 
cover their own imbecility in not daring openly to condemn or bring to trial a 
man whom they still dreaded, and of whose guilt they were unable to produce 
convicting proofs." What other proofs could be requisite than his having ad- 
vanced on Athens at the head of a body of Turkish cavalry and openly warred 
against the Government .'' — See Humphreys's Journal, p. 292. 

t Trelawney, Capt. Humphreys says, "had greatly determined Ulysses to leave 
the Turks, and proposed to him to quit Greece entirely for a time, and go to 
America ; lie could not, therefore, in honour betray the trust reposed in him." 

X Mr. Emerson does not name the person ; he asserts, however, that '^ the 
proposal was accepted, but a disagreement in the terms, or some other circum- 
stance, had prevented its execution." From whom did he learn this ? From 
Fenton or from Jarvis .'' Capt. Humphreys attempts to fasten the atrocious 
calumny on Mavrocordato. " Whoever," he says, "first made this infamous 
proposal, an argument used by Mavrocordato was, that Trelawney, as a native 
of Great Britain, being in the service of the Greeks, was out of the pale of his 
country's laws ; and an American of the name of Jarvis, new a Greek lieuten- 
ant-general, was Mavrocordato's agent in the affair, and negotiated between 
them." This Jarvis (or Gervase), who is the same that headed the garrison at 
Neo-kastro, has admitted that he vvas the person who introduced Fenton to 
the Prince, but states, that " he discontinued his acquaintance on Fenton 's in- 
timating a design to murder his friend, the man upon whom he was dependent, 
and with whom he lived on the strictest terms of intimacy. He regrets," 
adds Mr. Swan, " as well he may, having had the least acquaintance with 
him." — Journal, vol. ii. p. 102. Here is not a word of any proposal made to 
Mavrocordato ; nor is it credible that Fenton should have been expelled from 
Napoli by the Government, if such a proposal had been for a moment listened 
to. Whitcombe, however, in an intercepted let)er to this same Capt. Hum- 
phreys, after accusing him of deserting one whom he called his friend, charges 
him in the plainest terms with being himself accessory to the intended murder 
of Trelawney. Possibly, he had been told this by Fenton, who perhaps told 
Humphreys that he was engaged by Mavrocordato. Humphreys, however, by 
his own confession, knew, while he was with Ulysses, that Fenton was carrying 



MODERN GREECE. 177 

determined on joining the party of the man he had offered to 
assassinate, and to whom his quarrel with the Government was 
a sufficient recommendation. He was accordingly received 
among the inmates of the cave, where he remained after tlie 
surrender of Ulysses, as the dependant rather than the companion 
of Trelawney ; till, on the death of the chieftain, he formed the 
atrocious resolution of making himself master of the cave and 
its contents, which, by previous contract, were now the property 
of his benefactor. A few days before he made the attempt, the 
cave was visited by a young English gentleman, named Whit- 
combe, whom Fenton succeeded in persuading to become his ac- 
complice. The plan was, that they should fire at a target, while 
their host and benefactor stood umpire ; and while Trelawney 
unsuspectingly advanced to examine the first shots, the conspira- 
tors both made the attempt at the same moment. Fenton's pistol 
missed fire ; but Whitcombe's took efi^ect with two balls, and 
Trelawney fell, desperately, though not fatally wounded. His 
attendants, rushing forward, poinarded Fenton on the spot, while 
his confederate was secured in u'ons. Trelawney's recovery 
was long doubtful, but at length he was able to leave the cave, 
together with his wife, Goura having consented to grant them an 
escort, and in September, they embarked for the Ionian Isles. 
Before his departure, he generously gave Whitcombe his liberty, 
letting him loose again on society, in consideration of his youth 
(scarcely nineteen) and the respectability of his family.* The 
cave remained in the possession of the widow of Ulysses and 
her adherents. 

The military events in Eastern Greece were of slight impor- 
tance, the Seraskier having found it necessary to recall into Thes- 
saly the troops that had entered Boeotia, for the purpose of 
supporting the operations of the Pasha of Egripo, in order to 
direct all his means to the protection of his position before Mis- 
solonghi. 

To return to the Morea. Having failed in surprismg Napoli, 
the object next in importance, to which Ibrahim Pasha turned 
liis attention, was to open a passage to Patras ; but the moun- 

011 the intrigue, — " under the pretence to us," he says, " whether true or false, 
of entrapping Mavrocordato." This privity must certainly tend to vitiate his 
evidence. Yet, before he left Greece, he had the temerity to write a virulent 
letter to Mavrocordato, accusing him of keeping in pay assassins. — Hdm- 
PHREYs, p. 330. Swan, vol. ii. p. 100. '* 

* " Mr. Whitcombe has returned to Hydra, very little sensible, as it seems, 
of the heinousness of his conduct. He is said to be an extremely weak young 
fellow, full of daring and romance, and desirous of aping the extravagant 
conduct of Hope's Anastasius." — Swan, vol. ii, p. 187. 

23 



178 MODERN GREECE. 

talnous districts of Arcadia and Achaia, which intervene between 
that city and the plains of Mantineia and Argos, are exactly 
suited to such troops as the armatoli, and Demetrius Ypsilanti 
Was able effectually to bar his further progress in that direction. 
On the 10th of August, an engagement took place between a 
body of Egyptian troops advancing from Megalopolis and the 
Greeks posted near Phigalia, in which the former were repulsed 
with the loss of 250 killed and thirty prisoners, among whom 
was Deri Bey, their captain, who died of his wounds : the 
Greeks, firing from behind their tambours, had only three 
killed and five wounded. In a subsequent engagement, Ibrahim 
Pasha is stated to have been defeated in person by the united 
forces of Ypsilanti, Colocotroni, and Coliopulo : his Moorish reg- 
ulars having fled before the well-aimed fire of the Greeks, threw 
the whole army into disorder, and 300 were left dead on the 
field. At length, Tripolitza became an insecure position, and 
after the retreat of the Ottoman fleet from before Missolonghi, 
Ibrahim Pasha retreated with all his forces to Kalamata, there to 
await reinforcements and supplies. Symptoms of plague at Mo- 
don prevented his retiring on that place. 

By a shew of clemency at the opening of the campaign, and 
the merciful observance of his treaties at Navarino and Neo- 
kastro, Ibrahim had expected to carry all before him. Procla- 
mations of mercy and conciliation were made in his march to 
Tripolitza at every village ; but the inhabitants, too well instructed 
by experience, invariably fled to the mountains at his approach. 

Disappointment and rage now led him to throw off the mask. 
Every deserted village was reduced to ashes as he passed, every 
unfortunate straggler that fell into his hands was unrelentingly 
butchered ; and he o})enly declared that he would burn and lay 
waste the whole Morea.* " Thus," remarks Colonel Leake, 

*TheKev. Mr. Swan in September (1825), accompanied Captain Hamilton 
in a visit to Ibrahim Pasha, at Mistra, for the purpose of negotiating a change 
of prisoners. His person is thus described. " The Pasha is a stout, broad, 
brown-faced, vulgar-looking man, thirty-five or forty years of age, strongly 
marked with the small-pox ; his countenance possesses little to engage, but, 
when he speaks, which he does with considerable ease and fluency, it becomes 
animated and rather striking. He frequently accompanies his words with a 
long drawling cry, which, to European ears, sounds ridiculously enough. His 
manner carries with it that sort of decision which is the common appendage 
of despotism. Deprived of this, he would resemble an uneducated, hard-fa- 
voured seaman of our own country. He was plainly clothed for a Turk ; and 
his camp establishment altogether had none of that parade and luxury which 
we are accustomed to attach to eastern warfare." The Pasha professed his 
high regard for the English nation, and was at once most polite, wily, and 
evasive. " Speaking of the Morea," continues Mr. Swan, " although he re- 
gretted the necessity of his present proceedings, 3'ct it was his intention to 



MODERN GREECE. 179 

" was annihilated in a few weeks, that slight improvement which 
had been produced by a three year's exemption from the blight- 
ing presence of the ^lussulmans ; during whicli an increase of 
inhabitants, seeking refuge from other parts of Greece, together 
witli tlie confidence inspired by a Government which, however 
imperfect, had been sufficiently composed of right materials to 
produce some beneficial reforms, promised in a short time to 
effect a favourable change in the whole peninsula. Schools of 
mutual instruction and other places of education had been estab- 
lished in several to^vns ; and no sooner had the government ob- 
tained the power of taking the collection of the revenue out of 
the hands of the old primates and captains of armatoli, than 
the national domains, formed of the confiscated Turkish prop- 
erty, were let for double the sum that had been given for them 
the preceding year." 

Such was the posture of affairs at the close of the fifth cam- 
paign ; — and here, for the present, we suspend our rapid sketch 
of the yet unfinished contest. The observations of Colonel 
Leake, in concluding the Historical Outline, to which we have 
had repeated occasion to refer, will assist the reader in forming 
a just view of the present state and prospects of Greece. 

" Upon reviewing the events of the contest since its first com- 
mencement in the summer of 1821, it will be seen how little has- 
been done on either side, in a military point of view, towards its 
decisive termination ; such children are both parties in the art 

pursue them to the utmost. He would burn and destroy the whole Morea ; so 
that it should neither be profitable to the Greeks, nor to him, nor to anyone. 
What would these infatuated men, the dupes of their own imbecile Govern- 
ment, do for provisions in the winter ? He knew that his own soldiers would 
also suffer— that they too must perish. But his father Mehemet Ali was training 
forty thousand men, and he was in daily expectation of a reinforcement of 
twelve thousand. If these were cut off, he would have more, and he would 
persevere till the Greeks returned to their former state. One of the castles on 
the plain, he said, had just been carried by assault, and the garrison all put to 
the sword ; the other was expected to fall immediately. He repeated, ' I will 
not cease till the Morea be a ruin,' The Sultan has already conferred upon 
him the title and insignia of Pasha of this unhappy land ; and, said his high- 
ness, 'If the good people of England, who are so fond of sending money -to 
the Greeks, would send it directly to mc, it would save them considerable 
trouble : eventually, it all comes to my treasury.' " Sulieman Bey is thus de- 
scribed : " He looks exactly like an ostler turned bandit : a striking vulgar 
face, marked with the small-pox, (as if in sympathy with his master !) is set off 
by small light-blue eyes, light hair, and a flat nose. 1 his person was raised 
from the ranks by Bonaparte, and became aide-de-camp toGeneial Ney, for 
attempting to effect whose escape he was outlawed. He then served in the 
corps of the Mamelukes, which he organized ; and, finally, abandoning his re- 
ligion for the polluted and degrading faith of the Crescent, be became Sulieman 
Bey, the associate, friend, and general of Ibrahim Pasha." — Swan's Journal, 
vol", ii. pp. 237, 246. 



180 ' MODERN GREECE. 

of war, and so contemptible will their operations both by land 
and water generally appear to the military critics of civilized 
Europe. But there are two advantages possessed by the Greeks, 
which ought to prevent them from despairing of final success, — 
the strength of their country and the superiority of their seamen. 
The skill, the activity, and often the gallantry of the Greek 
sailors, have excited the approbation of some of our own sea-offi- 
cers. It is true, that neither tlie numbers nor the size of their 
vessels is such as can give them the command of the sea, or en- 
sure to them such a protracted blockade of the maritime for- 
tresses as will lead to a surrender caused by famine, or prevent 
debarkations, such as those which have occurred during the 
present year ; especially as long as the Greeks are unable to un- 
dertake a regular siege of the maritime fortresses. But the 
Turkish seamen always avoid the Greeks, and the Turkish 
squadrons are almost sure of receiving some damage whenever 
they meet. Their brulotiers in particular have furnished exam- 
ples of enterprise and patriotic devotion, which are fully sufficient 
to establish the national character, and to cancel the disgrace of 
any conduct that may have occurred of an opposite kind, the 
unavoidable consequence of insubordination and of a privation of 
law both civil and military. In the strength of their mountainous 
districts, the Greeks have a still firmer anchor for their hopes. 
The more exposed parfs of Greece, such as Crete, Macedonia, 
and Eastern Thessaly, may enter into temporary terms with the 
enemy ; but this cannot occur in that great citadel of mountains 
which extends from the plains of Thessaly and Boeotia westward 
as far as the sea-coast, and southward as far as the centre of the 
Morea — at least until the Ottomans are j;iiuch further advanced 
in conquest than they are at present. It might be supposed that, 
military ignorance being nearly equal on both sides, the party 
which should first establish a disciplined force, and which should 
first obtain any important assistance from European officers of 
military experience, would be almost certain of success. But 
the discipline of the Egyptian infantry is not as yet, we appre- 
hend, of a very high degree ; and there is wanting in the Egyp- 
tian army the education, the intelligence, and those martial habits 
in every gradation of officers, without which the proficiency of 
the troops in the European use of the musket must lose a great 
part of its advantage. Mehmet Aly is yet far from having over- 
come those numerous vices in the Turkish system, both civil and 
military, which so often render Turkish councils abortive. The 
desolation of the Morea, together with the inefficacy of a Turkish 
commissariat, will place perpetual obstacles in the way of Ibra- 



MODERN GREECE. 181 

liim's progress, and will render the arduous task of subduing the 
mountains of Greece still more difficult. That tractability of 
disposition which has enabled Mehmet Aly to mould his Egyp- 
tians to the European discipline, is allied to an inferiority in 
hardihood and energy to the European and Asiatic Turks, with 
whom similai- attempts have always failed. The Egyptians are 
precisely the troops least adapted to face the active and hardy 
Greek, in the rude climate, the barren soil, and the strong posi- 
tions of his native mountains. We cannot easily conceive that 
Greece is destined to be subjugated by Egyptians. Even Se- 
sostris drove his conquering chariot no further than Thrace ; nor 
will those who have an opportunity of comparing the Greek with 
the Egyptian of the present day, think it probable that a conquest 
\yi]l now be effected, if it depends upon the military qualities of 
the two people. In short, as not even Spain in the time of the 
Romans was better adapted for prolonging an obstinate contest, 
by the strength of the country and the elastic character of the 
inhabitants, there is the fairest reason to hope that Mehmet Aly 
may be tired of his present expensive undertaking, before he has 
made any great progress towards its completion. 

" In addition to the two principal advantages which have been 
mentioned, the cause of the Greeks derives considerable strength 
and hope from the impossibility, on their part, of submitting to 
such a state of vassalage as they Were before subject to. They 
know too well, that to give the Turks such a power would be to 
consent to their own destruction ; and they did not want the 
declaration of Ibrahim to be assured, that if he should acquire 
the government of the Morea by right of conquest, which the 
Porte has promised him, he would exchange the enslaved survi- 
vors of the Peninsula for a colony of Egyptians. Such a termi- 
nation, however, all history as well as common reason tells us, is 
impossible, if the Greeks have but ' the unconquerable will, and 
courage never to submit and yield.' The utmost that can be 
expected is the retreat of a great part of the population .of Greece 
into the mountains, a continuance of predatory warfare on both 
sides, and the desolation of every other part of the country, ex- 
cept the immediate vicinity of the fortified places. 

" Some politicians will perhaps be inclined to say that, how- 
ever deplorable to the people of Greece such a result might be, it 
would be better that they should suffer, than that the general 
peace of Europe should be compromised. But, supposing the 
interior condnent of Greece to be thus comfortably settled for the 
general repose, there still remains an extensive sea-coast : in 
fact, the numerous islands, the winding shores, and the great 



182 > MODERN GREECE. 

proportion of maritime outline to the size of the country, render 
the Greeks more peculiarly a naval people than any other in Eu- 
rope. If forced to the extremity of distress, they must be pirates 
by sea as well as freebooters by land. However disposed the 
nation might be to a better course, however deserving of a better 
fate, necessity would force the maritime population to those habits 
of life which are natural to Greece in a savage state, and to 
which its rocky creeks and islands have always afforded, and 
will ever give the greatest facilities. No alternative would then 
remain for the powers of Europe, but to give up all commercial 
pursuits in the Levant, or to suppress the Greek piracies by force 
— in other words, — to assist the Turks in exterminating them 
from their native islands."* 

It is scarcely possible, that Greece and Turkey should under 
any political arrangements, be re-united into one empire. This 

" land, the first garden of liberty's tree — 

It has been, and shall yet be the land of the free."t 

The moment, it may confidently be hoped, is approaching, when 
the Christian Powers of Europe will not disdain to allow the 
Greeks once more to take the rank of a nation. They have a 
country, a language, literature, laws, and with all its political de- 
fects, a national government, which admits of being rendered an 
efficient one, and which, such as it is, has proved a blessing to 
the people. Let it not be deemed a possible thing, that Chris- 
tian Europe should consent to its being extinguished in Turkish 
or Egyptian darkness. It has not appeared to us advisable to 
lay much stress on the religious claims of the Greeks ; and yet, 
though it be a spurious and nominal Christianity to which they 
are blindly but faidifuUy attached, and for which they have shed 
their blood, no sincere Christian can feel unconcerned respecting 
the issue of a contest which is to decide whether, in Greece, the 
Bible or the Koran shall be the acknowledged standard of faith. 
On the part of the Moslems, the warfare, it must not be forgot- 
ten, is animated by a hostility to the religion of Christ, — disguised, 
indeed, under idolatrous corruptions, but undistinguishable, in 
the eyes of the brutal Mussulman, from a purer faith. The 
longer such a contest lasts, remarks Col. Leake, " the more in- 
credible it becomes, that Christian Europe will contemplate un- 
moved the destruction of a Christian people by the semi-barba- 
rous followers of a religion hostile to the whole Christian name, 
because those infidels have for some centuries been suffered to 

"■ Leake, pp. 178, 184. 

t Campbell's " Song of the Greeks." 



MODERN GREECE. 183 

abuse the possession of some of the finest countries in Europe, 
and because, in consideration of their proximity, and for the sake 
of the general peace, they have in some degree been admitted 
into the social system of the civilised world." 

The time is come, it may at length be perceived, when the 
interests of social order in Europe require that Greece, within 
whatsoever limits circumscribed, should be a free and independ- 
ent state. " The Greeks in slavery," it has been remarked, 
" invite the Russians : free, they would repel them."* Greece, 
even if subdued, would be the weakness, not the strength of 
Turkey, a barren as well as a dreadful conquest, fatal to herself. 
If, therefore, the peace of Europe demands the toleration of the 
Ottoman empire .in Turkey, in order to give stability to that 
empire, it is necessary that the Porte should be made to part 
with Greece, and that a new barrier should thus be created 
against tliose encroachments which tlireaten to sweep away the 
tottering fabric. " It is time to detach all the Christian subjects 
of Turkey from a Russian alliance, by giving them a country 
to fight for."f The aggrandisement of Egypt, at the expense 
of Greece, or even of Turkey, to whatever power it might be 
advantageous, cannot be for the interest of the Protectors of the 
Ionian Isles. | One thing seems certain : Greece cannot be re- 
stored to its former condition. It cannot, inhabited by Greeks, 
relapse into a province of the Turkish empire. A fearful 
responsibility rests upon that christian nation upon whose rulers 
it mainly depends to determine, whether the Morea shall remain 
a frightful desert, or whether from the ashes of Scio, Kidonies, 
and Psara, new and flourishing communities shall spring up 
under the protection of a free government, and literature, the 
arts, and die faith which Paul preachejj at Athens and Corinth, 
once more flourish on the shores of tl^ Levant. 

THE MOREA.§ 

In now proceeding to give, from the works of Modern Trav- 

* De Sismoudi on the Extermination of the Greeks. See New Monthly 
Magazine, July 1, 1826, p. 93. " By the conduct of the Russians," remarks 
M. Sismondi, " the Greeks have been so thoroughly compromised for the last 
half century, that there has oiilj' remained to the Turks the choice of mas- 
sacring them or of acknowledging their independence." 

t Sismondi. 

X Even the Porte, it is said, begins to discover that Ibrahim, in the possession 
of the Morea, may be a more dangerous neighbour than even a Greek repub- 
lic ; in consequence of which, envoys have been sent from Constantinople to 
treat with the rebellious provinces. 

§ The modern name of the Peninsula is said to have been given to it, on ac- 
count of its resembling in figure a mulberry leaf. 



184 MODERN GREECE. 

ellers, a topographical description of the country, we shall not 
unfrequently have occasion to give an account of things as they 
were prior to the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, 
rather than of their present aspect. We shall begin with the 
Peninsula. 

No one would think of visiting the Morea without the Itiner- 
ary of Sir William Gell. Although it is more than twenty years 
since he performed the tour of the Peninsula, we may safely put 
ourselves under his guidance as a topographer. In January 
1824, he landed at Navarino, the fatal spot, where the Egyptian 
fleet, in May 1825, made their descent on the coast. 

NAVARINO. 

On entering the port by the southern entrance,* a curious 
conical mountain, called Pilaf Tepe, rises in a line with the 
modern fortress. The mountain of Agio JVicolo lies immedi- 
ately on the right of the passage. The harbour, " certainly," 
Sir William Gell says, " one of the finest in the world," is form- 
ed by a deep indenture in the coast, shut in by a long island, the 
ancient Sphacteria, famous for the signal defeat which the Spar- 
tans sustained here from the Athenians in the Peloponnesian 
war.f " The island (still called Sphagia) has been separated into 
three or four parts by the violence of the waves, so that boats 
might pass from the open sea into the port, in calm weather, by 
means of the channel so formed. On one of the portions is 
the tomb of a Turkish santon, and near the centre of the port 
is another very small island or rock. 

" The remains of Navarino Vecchio consist in a fort or castle 
of mean construction, covering the summit of a hill, sloping 
quickly to the south, but falling in abrupt precipices to the north 
and east. The town was built on the southern declivity, and 
was surrounded with a wall, which, allowing for the natural irregu- 
larities of the soil, represented a triangle, with the castle at the 
apex, — a form observed in many of the ancient cities in Greece. 
The ascent is steep, and is rendered more difficuh by the loose 

* The other entrance, to the north, has not sufficient water to admit anything 
larger than boats, and is constantly becoming s.haIlower. The port is pointed 
out from the sea by the ruined fortress of Old JNavarino, seated on a lofty rock 
at its northern extremity. 

t The island, according to Col. Leake, is two miles in length, and a quarter 
of a mile broad. The basin is six miles in circumference, having an entrance 
of 600 yards between Neo Kastro and the south-eastern end of Sphacteria ; 
the northern end being separated, by a channel of 100 yards, from a peninsu- 
lar promontory anciently called Coryphasium. 



MODERN GREECE. 185 

siones and broken tiles, which are the only vestiges of the habita- 
tions. Two or three curtains, with towers and gates, have 
formerly been placed across the hill, to secure the ascent, which 
continues for at least one thousand paces between the shore and 
the citadel. The foundation of the walls, throughout the whole 
circuit, remains entire ; but the fortifications were never of any 
consequence, though they present a picturesque groupe of turrets 
and battlements from below, and must have been very imposing 
from tlie sea when the place was inhabited. From the top is an 
extensive view over the island of Sphacteria, the port, witli the 
town of Navarino to the south, and a considerable tract of the 
Messenian territory on the east, with the conical hill, which 
tliough some miles from the shore, is used as a landmai'k to point 
out the entrance to the port. 

" This place is supposed to' have been built on the site of the 
Pylos of Messenia ; but either the public buildings of Pylos 
must have been very insignificant, or this could not have been 
the spot, for we were unable to find any squared blocks of stone 
or marble, the usual indications of the existence of more ancient 
cities. There is a cave in the rocks below, which some Frank 
has taught the two or three Greeks who ever heard of Nestor, 
to believe was the stall where he kept his cows ; a mistake which 
some future traveller will probably magnify into an ancient tra- 
dition. 

" Towards the north, the island of Prote* is visible. Below 
us, in the same direction, we observed, between the sea and a 
salt lake which once formed part of the port, two points of rock, 
united by a semicircular causeway of sand, which the violence 
of the sea had driven into that form, and which the people call- 
ed Boudiou Chilia, the Cow's Paunch. This sand is evidently 
formed by a modern deposite from tlie sea ; and the rock of 
Navarino Vecchio must at no very remote period have been an 
island, and may even have formed part of Sphacteria. Ruins 
probably exist on the hills, near the villages of 'Petrachorio and 
Leukos on the north-east. 

" The town within the walls of the fortress of Navarino, like 
all those in this part of the world, is encumbered with the fallen 
ruins of former habitafions. These have generally been con- 
structed by the Turks since the expulsion of the Venetians. 
They were originally erected in haste, and being often cemented 
with mud instead of mortar, the raiijs of autumn, penetrating 

* The Prodano of Italian maps, but in the country retaining its ancient 
name.'' 

24 



186 MODERN GREECE. 

between the outer and inner faces of the walls, swell the earthy 
and soon effect the ruin of tlie whole structure. 

" The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarka- 
ble for the production of an infinite quantity of squills, which ' 
are used in medicine, and asphodels, the flowers of which are 
very numerous and pretty during the winter months, though, in 
the summer," they are reduced to the state of dried sticks, with- 
out any traces of vegetation. .. The rocks, which shew them- 
selves in every direction through a scanty but rich soil, are lime- 
stone : they have an extraordinary appearance, being curiously 
perforated in so great a number of small holes, where the softer 
particles have been decomposed by time, that a place to tie a 
iiorse or to moor a boat seems never to be wanting, either on the 
road or on the beach. The perpetual presence of rock has, 
however, a general appearance of unproductiveness round the 
castle of Navarino ; and the absence of trees is ill compensated 
by the profusion of sage, brooms, cistus, and other shrubs which 
start from the innumerable cavities of the limestone."* 

The house of the archon (Sir William's host) was new, and 
is described as a specimen of the mansions in this part of the 
country. " It is situated at the foot of a hill, sloping to the west 
of the port. From the extremities of the house two wings pro- 
ject backwards, of which one is the woman's apartment, and the 
other the kitchen. The remainder of the square is enclosed 
with a wall, which surrounds a garden rising up the hill in ter- 
races, the lowest of which is not entered from below, but from 
the gallery of the principal . apartment, by a bridge over the 
court. Four or five good rooms, under which are magazines^ 
open into a wooden gallery overlooking the court and garden. 
The gallery is reached by a flight of steps from the court, and 
serves, like the peristyles of the ancients, either as a place of 
conversation or for exercise, according to the season. It not 
unfrequently happens, that a part is separated from the rest by a 
rail or steps, and, being furnished with cushions, becomes the 
summer apartment ; answering exactly to the ala, of the ancients, 
both in disposition and utility. The terraces of the garden^ 
rising in regular gradation, with the plants and flowers, make a 
gay and delightful spectacle from within."f 

The road from Navarino to Modon (or Mothone), after pass- 
ing the castle, runs southward along a rugged hollow, between 

* Cell's Journey in the Morea, pp. 19 — 28. 

t Among other plants, the sugar-cane had been cultivated by the archon, 
and appeared to thrive The mean temperature of Navarino, Sir W, Cell 
supposes to be not lower than 66°. 



MODERN GREECE. IST 

the mountain of Agio Nicolo on the west, and a lower range on 
the east, " both ugly and uninteresting." Here and there, are 
vestiges of a paved way, probably Venetian, composed of small 
stones well united ; and wliere the road to Coron (or Korone) 
turns off to the left, the learned Traveller noticed small patches 
of arable ground. The rocky mountain on the left is perforated 
with caves. In about half an hour, the road leads to a wood of 
mulberries, interspersed with cypresses, and thence descends to 
a little plain at that time covered with olives. The village of 
Opshino lies on the left, seated on an eminence about three miles 
from jNi avarino 5 and still more distant is seen a pretty hamlet, 
ornamented with many cypresses, called Dia-ta-Bathenai. The 
village of Metaxadi is also seen on the left. Mount Agio Nicolo 
now approaches the road, and two or three ruined Greek chapels 
occur, with some old foundations. After passing a cave on the 
right, containing " something like holes for votive offerings," with 
an ancient quarry below, the plain of Modon may be said to 
commence. It was, at the time of Sir William Gell's risit, well 
cultivated, and being shaded by innumerable olives, presented a 
a smiling and inviting appearance ; here and there, were observ- 
ed Turkish villas ; and Sir William was convinced, that the 
Turkish despotism must be a blessing to the country.'^ He ar- 
rived at Modon after a ride of nearly two hours, a distance of 
about seven miles. 

MODON. 

" Modon consists at present of two portions ; one within the 
walls of the forti'ess, and the other a considerable Greek village 
to the north of it : ttie latter is surrounded with an extensive 
tract of gardens, many of which are delightfully planted with 
^oranges, lemons, and pomegranates. It is not easy to say wheth- 
er the Greek or the Turkish town is the more wretched, one 
being built in the meanest and most irregular manner, while the 
other, though surrounded with walls, presents only a melancholy 
spectacle of deserted streets and dilapidated habitations."f 

^ " The vicinity of the two forts of Navariuo and Modon seems to have 
given the Turkish population the greatest share in the soil in this district, and 
the Greek chapels on the road are all deserted and ruined." 

t " The Aga seemed wretchedly poor, though the governor of the place, and 
his house was in scarcely a less filthy and ruinous condition than that of the 
commandant at Navarino : so far is it from truth," adds this zealous Pliilo- 
Turk, " that the Turks live in ease and affluence, while the Greeks are con- 
demned to filth and penury." Sir William seems to consider this as a proof 
of the impartiality of the Turkish tyranny. 



188 MODERN GREECE. 

Over the gate of the fortress, — " a curious octagon fort, com-- 
municating with the town by a stone bridge," the lion of St^ 
Mark still attests the ancient sway of the Venetian Republic. 

About two miles N. E. of Modon, is a place called Palaio 
Mothone, (Old Modon). The walk to it lay along the plain 
through gardens and olive-grounds, extending over the site of 
the city. " The place is marked out by mounds of earth, which 
point out in a very unsatisfactory manner the spot where it is sup- 
posed to have existed. The fields are strewed with broken tiles 
and pottery. A little ruined church, placed on a mount over- 
looking a dell, watered by a meandering brook, is possibly on the 
site of a temple, and contained an ancient pillar of white mar- 
ble, now thrown down. There is nothing worthy of observa- 
tion on the spot, which is, however, pretty and sequestered."* 

Modon has a small port, but ships generally anchor at 
the opposite island of Sapienza. Three batteries command the 
bay : the uppermost two have the appearance of being patched 
upon the dome of an old building. The surrounding country 
reminded Mr. Swan (in 1825) of the dark, barren land which 
occurs between Leeds and Pontefract in our coal districts, for 
the Turks encamped here had employed themselves in cutting 
down and burning the olive-trees. In other parts, the plain had 
a fertile aspect, and many of the Turkish tents were pitched 
amid extensive olive-grounds, and orange-groves. f 

For a description of the route to Coron, we must have re- 
course to the florid pages of the Viscount de Chateaubriandy 
who visited this part of the Morea in the year 1806. 

" It was still dark when we left Modon. I fancied myself 
wandering among the wilds of America : here was the same 
solitude, the same silence. We passed through woods of olive- 
trees, proceeding in a southerly direction. At day-break, we 
found ourselves on the level summits of the most dreary hills 

* Narrative, p. 49. In the author's Itinerary, there are stated to be at 
Palaio Mothone, " vestiges of a city, vvith a citadel and a few marbles. It is 
difficult to determine the date of the ruins. 

t " The Abbe Barthelemy considered Mothone as so uninteresting, that he 
has taken notice of nothing but its spring of Bituminous water. . . .The name 
frequently occurs in history, but never as the scene of any important event. 
From a fragment by Diodorus Siculus, we find that Brasidas defended this 
place against the Athenians. The same vi'riter terms it a tow^n of Laconia, be- 
cause Messenia was a conquest of Lacedaemon Trajan granted privileges to 

Mothone. It was taken by the Venetians in 1124, and, again, having reverted 
■ to its former masters, in 1204. A Genoese corsair dispossessed the Venetians 
in 1208, but the Doge Dandolo recovered it. In 1498, it was taken by Mahom- 
med II., reconquered by Morosini in 1686, and finally recovered by the 
Turks in 1715." — Chateaubriand's Greece, vol. i. p. 81. 



MODERN GREECE. 189 

that I ever beheld. For two hours we continued our route over 
tliese elevated plains, which, being ploughed up by the torrents,, 
resembled forsaken fallows, interspersed with the sea-rush and 
bushes of a species of brier. Large bulbs of tlie mountain lily, 
uprooted by the rains, appeared here and there on tlie surface of 
tlie ground. We described the sea to the east through a thinly- 
sown wood of olives. We then descended into a valley, where 
we saw some fields of barley and cotton. We crossed the bed 
of a torrent, now dried up ; it was full of rose-laurels and of the 
agnus-castus, a shrub with a long, pale, narrow leaf, whose pur- 
ple and somew^hat woolly flower shoots out nearly into the form 
of a spindle. I mention these two shrubs, because they are met 
with over all Greece, and are almost the only decorations of those 
solitudes, once so rich and gay, at present so naked and dreary. 
Now I am upon the subject of this dry torrent, I shall observe, 
that, in the native coimtry of the Ilissus, the Alpheus, and the 
Erymanthus, I have seen but three rivers whose urns were not 
exliausted ; these were the Pamisus, the Cephisus, and the 
Eurotas. 

" On leaving the valley which I have just mentioned, we 
began to ascend fresh mountains. My guide several times re- 
peated to me names which I had never heard ; but, to judge 
from their position, these mountains must form a part of the chain 
of Mount Temathea. We soon entered a wood of olive-trees, 
rose-laurels, agnus-castus, and cornel-trees. This wood was 
overlooked by rugged hills. Having reached the top of these, 
we beheld the Gulf of Messenia, skirted on all sides by moun- 
tains, among which the Ithome was distinguished by its insulated 
situation, and the Taygetus by his two pointed peaks. As we 
proceeded, we discovered below us the road and harbour of 
Coron, in which we saw several ships at anchor : the fleet of the 
Capitan Pasha lay on the other side of the Gulf towards 
Calamata. On reaching the plain, which lies at the foot of the 
mountains, and extends to the sea, we left on our right a village, 
in the middle of which stood a kind of fortified castle ; the whole, 
that is to say, both the village and the castle, were in a manner 
surrounded with an immense Turkish cemetery covered with 
cypresses of all ages. My guide, pointing to these trees, called 
them Parissos. The rose-laurel there grew at the foot of the 
cypresses, which resembled large black obelisks ; white turtle- 
doves and blue pigeons fluttered and cooed among their branches ; 
the grass waved about the small funereal columns crowned with 
turbans ; and a fountain, built by a shereef, poured its waters into 



190 MODERN GREECE. 

the road for the benefit of the traveller. From this cemetery 
to Coron is nearly two hours' journey. We proceeded through 
an uijinterrupted wood of olives ; the space between the trees 
being sown with wheat, which was half cut down. The ground, 
which at a distance has the appearance of a level plain, is inter- 
sected by rough and deep ravines. 

" Corone, like Messene and Megalopolis, is not a place of 
very high antiquity, since it was founded by Eparainondas on 
the ruins of the ancient Epa. Coron has hitherto been taken 
for the ancient Corone, agreeably to the opinion of D'Anville. 
On this point I have some doubts. According to Pausanias, 
Corone was situated at the foot of Mount Temathea, near the 
mouth of the Pamisus. Coron, on the contrary, is at a consid- 
erable distance from that river : it stands on an eminence, nearly 
in tbe position in which the same Pausanias places the temple of 
Apollo Corinthus, or rather in the position of Colonides. At 
the bottom of the Gulf of Messenia, on the sea shore, you meet 
with ruins which may be the remains of the ancient Corone, 
unless they belong to the village of Ino. Coronelli is mistaken in 
supposing Coron to be the ancient Pedasus, which, according to 
Strabo and Pausanias, must be sought in Methone." 

What is supposed to be the site of Corone, exhibits, however, 
but a heap of modern ruins. According to M. Pellegrin, who 
travelled in the Morea between 1715 and 1719, the territory of 
Coron then comprehended eighty villages. " I am doubtful," M. 
de Chateaubriand continues, " if five or six could now be found 
within the same district. The rest of this devastated tract be- 
longs to Turks, who possess three or four thousand olive-trees. 
The house of the French Consul overlooked the Gulf of Coron. 
From my window, I beheld the sea of Messenia, painted with 
the most beautiful azure. On the opposite side rose the lofty 
chain of the snow-capped Taygetus, which Polybius justly com- 
pares to the Alps, but to the Alps beneath a more lovely sky. 
On my right extended the open sea ; and on my left, at the 
extremity of the Gulf, I discovered Mount Ithome, detached 
like Mount Vesuvius, which it also resembles in its truncated 
summit. What reflections are excited by the prospect of the 
desert coasts of Greece, where nought is heard, save the eternal 
whistling of the wind and the roaring of the billows ! The re- 
port of guns, fired from time to time by the ships of the Capitan 
Pasha against the rocks of the Mainotes, (with whom he was 
then at war,j alone interrupted these dismal sounds by a sound 
still more dismal ; and nothing was to be seen upon this whole 
extent of sea but the fleet of this chief of the barbarians." 



MODERN GREECE. 191 

The disturbed stale of the country rendering it unsafe to pro- 
ceed to Sparta by way of Kalamata, (a village nearly opposite to 
Coron on the other side of the Gulf,) M. de Chateaubriand deter- 
mined to proceed to Tripohtza. Embarking in a skiff, he reached 
in a few hours the mouth of the Pamisus, " the largest river of the 
Peloponnesus," where the bark grounded for want of water. 
Here he landed, and proceeded through Nisi, " a considerable 
village" three or four miles up that river, directing his course to- 
wards Mount Ithome, leaving on the right the ruins of Messene. 
He passed through " Chafasa, Scala, Cyparissa, and several 
other villages recently destroyed by the Pasha, in his last expe- 
dition against the jDanditti From the desolation that reigned 

around me," remarks the learned Frenchman, " it might have 
been supposed that the ferocious Spartans had again been ravag- 
ing the native land of Aristodemus." An uneven plain, covered, 
like the savannas of Florida, with long grass and droves of horses, 
conducted him to the extremity of the basin, formed by the 
junction of the lofty mountains of Arcadia and Laconia. The 
long and narrow defile which leads out into the plain of Leondari, 
strongly reminded him of the passage of the Apennines between 
Perouse and Tarni. We shall not accompany this Writer any 
farther in his route to Tripolitza ; but must now return to Na- 
varino, in order to trace the route of Sir William Gell and Ibra- 
him Pasha to Arcadia, and complete, from other sources, our 
description of the Messenian territory. 

FROM NAVARINO TO ARCADIA. 

The first stage from Navarino, proceeding northward, is to 
Gargagliano. The track runs along the eastern shore of the 
port for some time, and then descends into an alluvial plain,, 
leavmg the little villages of Petrachorio and Leuka on the left, 
and Gephyrae and Lisaki on little knolls to the right.* A little 
beyond, the road enters a pretty wooded valley, watered by the 
river Romanus, which is crossed by a bridge ; and about three- 
quarters of a mile farther, a woody dell, where the Brussomavof 
has also its bridge. Here, Sir William Gell was delighted with a 
thicket of arbutus, which formed a beautiful shrubbery on either 
hand. The aspect of the intermediate country was neither fer- 
tile nor inviting, and much of it was neglected. Near the Ro- 
manus, there was a tract cultivated with lupins, and a crop of 

* In the Itinerary written, Geophyre and Lirachi. 
t Intlie Itinerary, Brisomero Nerro. 



192 MODERN GREECE. 

maize had recently been gathered from the plains. A steep and 
difficult ascent conducts from the arbutus grove to a summit af- 
fording a fine view of the sea and Prote ; and Gargagliano soon 
becomes visible, distant from Navarino five hours and a quarter. 
Through the whole of this uninteresting journey, the travellers 
did not meet a single individual on the road.* 

" Gargagliano is a very large Greek village, probably built 
under the Venetians, the name being evidently Italian. It is 
placed on a high flat, with a very steep descent towards the sea 
and the lower country on the coast, which terminates in a pro- 
montory opposite to the island of Prote : this is overlooked, 
though at some distance from the village. Prote is at present 
remarkable only for the number of oxen which it maintains, and 
for a port where small vessels frequently take shelter. Gargag- 
liano is distinguished by the number of cypresses with which it 
is ornamented : these, together with the situation, give the town ' 
an air of prosperity and consequence from without, which the 
interior is ill calculated to maintain."! The village abounded 
with droves of swine (" the sure symptom of a Christian popula- 
tion in the East,") not absolutely wild, but with, long legs and 
backs well arched and fringed with long bristles, resembling the 
boars on antique gems. Mill-stones are cut from a rock near* 
this place, but the learned Traveller could hear of no other pro- 
duction for sale. 

" Quitting Gargagliano at seven a. m.," continues Sir William, 
" we descended to the lower country on the coast, leaving the 
path to Prote on the left. On the right, we observed several 
caves, and one called Barytospelia,.once producing, as the name 
imports, nitre for the manufacture of gunpowder. Having 
passed an open grove of Velania oaks, and a plain spotted with 
shrubs, we descended to the river Longobardo, which we passed 
over a bridge of two arches. On the descent was a pretty 
fountain, with a Turkish inscription, and other eastern decora- 
tions added by the Turk who had erected it, and had conveyed 
the water for the use of travellers ; but the pious zeal of some 

* Sir William's account of the road is truly appalling. " Nothing'," he says, 
'' can equal the impracticability of a Greek road over a district of pointed lime- 
stone rocks perpetually appearing at the surface, except that across the suc- 
ceeding valley or plain, when it has been well soaked by the autumnal rains. 
The short herbage, beginning to spring up in the winter, renders it necessary 
for the traveller to attend to his own involuntary agitations ; while the lug- 
gage-horse, after a thousand slips and as many recoveries, almost invariably 
puts a stop to further progress for a short time, by receiving a desperate fall, 
after a slide of several feet, and a succession of unavailing struggles." 

t Gell's Narrative, pp. 62, 71. In the Itinerary, the houses of Gargagliano 
are stated to be good. 



MODERN GREECE. 193 

Greeks had just deprived it of its ornaments, and destroyed tlie 
water-course by way of rendering a service to the cause of reli- 
gion. The country had here and there small patches of culti- 
vation, producing grain and lupins. After passing another river, 
called Agia Kyriaki, the hills receded from the coast, and we 
saw, over the tops of the nearest, the peaked summit of the lofty 
Mount Malia, or Mali, which may be considered as the centre 
from which all the other hills of the south-western point of the 
Morea proceed. 

" Three hours' ride from Gargagliano brought us to the vil- 
lage of Philiatra, after passing through a very rich tract of vine- 
yards and olive-grounds, and under a large oak with the ruins of 
a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicolo. The number of trees, and 
pai'ticularly of cypresses, formed so marked a feature in this 
spot, that we were not aware of the houses before we were on 
the point of entering the place. 

" Philiatra is a large and straggling village, situated in a plain, 
forming a cape between the mountains and the sea. The habi- 
tations are so interspersed with trees and vineyards, that scarcely 
any two are distinguishable together ; and the site was then to be 
recognised from a distance only by a groupe of cypresses, one 
of which, of great height, is visible from a considerable extent 
both of sea and land. Philiatra may properly be styled a Greek 
village, though a few Turks, and among others our Janissary 
Mustapha, had acquired property there. These Turks, as we 
were informed, held their lands upon a very uncertain tenure, 
for, by the strict letter of the law, they are not permitted either 
to buy or to inherit land from the Greeks ; a regulation intended 
to prevent injustice, and probably one of the articles of the capi- 
tulation between the Turks and the Venetians on the cession of 
the Morea. By a law also of their own, a Turk is not allowed 
to buy land at any place where there is no mosque; yet, a mosque 
cannot be erected without a special licence from the Mufti, and 
a very considerable expense. In such circumstances, these 
Turks, being in some degree dependent on the good-will of their 
neighbours, become very good citizens, equally removed, by 
their condition, from the rapaciousness of tyrants, and the mean- 
ness of slaves. 

" We remained at Philiatra only a few hours. It contains 
nothing worthy of observation ; and the lanes which serve as 
streets, are during the winter rendered impassable, except on 
horseback, by the frequent recurrence of deep and muddy 
sloughs. A church or two in decent repair exist in the \'illage ; 
and several years after, I saw from a ship at sea the slender mi- 
25 



194 MODERN GREECE. 

naret of a newly-erected mosque, possibly the consequence of 
the very journey which we were making in the Morea. It is 
now in all probability, with the other buildings of Philiatra, re- 
duced to a heap of ruins ; as, the village, being totally devoid of 
the means of defence, must have been sacked alternately by 
Christian and Turk. The Mainote pirates, attracted by the 
flourishing state of its olives and vines, have nevertheless made 
vain attempts to plunder Philiatra ; for the inhabitants, headed 
by the few resident Turks, have always repulsed them with loss. 

" After dinner we again pursued our journey toward the city 
of Arcadia, the capital of the district. The river of Philiatra, a 
rapid mountain-current in a deep ravine, is passed by a lofty 
bridge near the villages of Kanaloupon and Kalazoni, the inhabi- 
tants of which cultivate the red and sandy soil of the plain, which 
here expands on each side. A mountain on the right is called 
Geranion ; and we were told of a plain with an impregnable for- 
tress upon a conical hill on Mount Mali, where there had been 
a great battle between the Turks and the Venetians, and which 
may probably again become the scene of contention, as it has 
always been the refuge of banditti.* 

" On the right, we saw the village of Balaclava, a name re- 
minding us of the Tartars of the Crimea, which we could account 
for in this place in no other way than by supposing it a colony of 
Armenians, who might at some period have settled at the next 
village of Armeniou. We crossed by a bridge, a river called 
from its branches Duopotamo, and* passed through a country 
well covered with olives, and capable of any species of cultiva- 
tion. This sort of scenery continued till the mountains 
again approached. On the right, near a fountain called Ron- 
daki, and on a rocky summit attached to their most western 
point, the towers of the castle of Arcadia were discovered above 
the trees. The situation is so commanding and picturesque, that 
we could not but imagine we were approacliing a magnificent 
city, none of the houses being visible. After a short ascent, 
however, and passing two ruined chapels situated on projecting 
points of the mountain, the wretc^ied cluster of habitations which 
form the town broke at once upon the sight, and destroyed the 
illusion, though the prospect was more beautiful than ever." 

* This is probably the spot where Pappa Flescia had entrenched himself^ to 
dispute Ibrahim Pasha's advance on Arcadia. — See page 165. 



MODERN GREECE. 195 



ARCADIA. 



" The town of Ai-kadia is long and naiTOW, and contains three 
mosques besides that in the fort : tl)e inhabitants ^are Greeks and 
Turks. Its population (1806) probably does not exceed 4000. 
Some remains of the acropolis of Cyparissiaij- enclose the mo- 
dern fortress, which is in ruins. It contains one mosque and 
some houses for the garrison. In the plain near the town are 
the few remains of a small Doric temple. The view irom hence 
is highly interesting and extensive. The eye stretches over the 
broad expanse of the Cyparissian Gulf to the Ionian Sea, in 
which the Strophades, with the more distant islands of Zakun- 
thos and Cephallenia are faintly visible. Towards the north, the 
spectator recognises Katakolo Kastro, Castel Tornese, and the 
low coast of Eleia, which scarcely peers above the horizon. At 
the extremity of this low coast begins the Cyparissian Gulf (Gulf 
of Ai'cadia), where the first objects are the hill of Samikon, the 
khan of Zakaro, the ancient city near Strobitza, and the range of 
the Messenian mountains, overtopped by those of Arcadia, among 
which Olenos is the most conspicuous. The plain and acropo- 
lis of Cyparissiai and the modern town terminate the view. 
Mount Lycason and the temple of Apollo Epikourios were con- 
cealed by the intervening hill of the fortress. "f Ai'cadia has no 
port. The surrounding country is described by Sir William 
Gell as a fine grove of olives ; but, in spite of its romantic name, 
the place itself is altogether insignificant. 

Mr. Dodwell reached Arcadia from the north ; and, as it will 
complete the description of this part of the Arcadian coast, we 
shall give his route 

FROM OLYMPIA TO ARCADIA. 

It was two hours and a half before the Travellers could effect 
their passage, and get every thing over the rapid and intractable 
stream of the Alpheios, by means of a rude canoe which is em- 
ployed for the purpose. § The passage of the horses was the 

* Col. Leake writes this word Arkadhia ; and Mr. Dodwell, Arkadia, for a 
fanciful reason, " to distinguish it from the ancient tenitory of that name," 
which he writes with a c. 

t " It is written indifferently in the singular or the plural in ancient authors. 
I have followed Pausanias." — Dodwell. Col. Leake writes it Cyparissus ; 
Sir W. Gell, Cyparissia. Pausanias speaks slightly of the place, but mentions 
the temples of Apollo and Minerva. 

t Dodwell's Classical Tour through Greece, vol. ii. p. 350. 

§ The ferry boat, called a monoxylon, is the trunk of a large tree hollowed 
out, flat at one extremity and pointed at the other. Only one person at a time 
can embark in it, besides the two rowers, who sit at its opposite extremities « 



196 MODERN GREECE. 

most difficult part of the undertaking, as they were to be driven 
into the water, when they swam across, after having been car- 
ried for a considerable distance down the stream. They landed 
at the wooded foot of a steep and picturesque hill, which they 
ascended by a narrow and dangerous path, bordered by the pre- 
cipitous banks of the Alpheios on the left, and by projecting 
rocks on the right. It took them an hour to ascend to the Greek 
village of Palaio Phanari, consisting of about twenty-five thatch- 
ed cottages, with a tower (pyrgos), then inhabited by a hospita- 
ble Turk. To the west of the village rises a pointed or conical 
bill, crowned with the remains of an acropolis, built of large 
square blocks, supposed to be that of Phrixa. The view from 
the summit is very extensive and interesting, commanding the 
course of the Alpheios meandering through the verdant meads 
of Olympia to the Ionian Sea. Katakolo Kastro is perceived 
as a spot upon the coast. On the opposite side of the river is 
seen the flourishing little town of Lalla, on some flat hills to- 
wards the north.* To the east is an extensive plain, bounded 
by the Arcadian mountains, and animated by the sinuous current 
of the Alpheios. The nearer hills are covered with forests, and 
the distant mountains also appear to be well wooded. 

At five hours and a quarter (about fifteen miles and a half) 
from Palaio Phanari, is the Greek village of Vrina, very pleas- 
antly situated. The road is "superlatively bad," but lies through 
" beautifully tortuous vales, in a state of variegated cultivation," 
and over hills covered with the waving pine. " There was some- 
thing so peculiarly beautiful in the country," Mr. Dodwell says, 
" that it appeared a region of enchantment, as if we had reached the 



locos leetos, et amcena vireta 



Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas."\ 

Near Vrina {Bgiva) rises a fine pointed hill, surmounted v/ith 
its palaio kastro or ancient citadel, — conjectured by the learned 
Traveller to be the ancient Minthe. An hour from Vrina is the 

and whirled about by the violence of the current, it is carried down the stream, 
often a considerable way, before it reaches the shore. It is directed by two 
oars, shaped nearly like a spade, which also serve as rudders. " This kind of 
boat was used by the ancients ; they are the fnovoivXa irXoia of Polybius, and are 
alluded to by Virgil (Geog. I. 136) : 

' Tunc alnos fluvii primum sensere cavalas.^ " 

* Lalla is described by Mr. Dodwell as a town recently built, containing 
about 1000 houses, the inhabitants all Turks. They are, in fact, an Albanian 
tribe of Moslems, who took possession of the district by force. 

t Virg. Mn. iv. 638. Mr. Dodwell travelled towards the end of January, 
when the fruit-trees at Vrina were all in blossom. "This early flower falls, 
and when the winter is over, a second blossom appears, which gives birth te 
the fruit." , 



MODERN GREECE. 197 

village of Kallonia (by Sir W. Gell written Alona), on the left 
bank of a stream which waters a rich agricultural plain ; and 
forty minutes further is a ruinous derveni or custom-house, above 
which rises a rocky hill crowned with the ruins of an ancient 
city, probably Samia or Samikon.* The walls and square 
towers are well preserved. This place is now called indiffer- 
ently Derveni and Kiaffa or Kleidi (the Key), as being the pass 
or key of two contiguous plains. The foot of the hills is on the 
confines of an extensive marsh, covered with pines, reaching to 
the sea, which appears at the distance of about half a mile to 
the west. A precipice rises near the marsh, containing two 
large caves, which are entered by the waters of the marsh and 
of some springs at the foot of the hill. " Strabo mentions the 
two caves, one of which was sacred to the nymphs Anigriades, 
while the other was famous for the adventures of the Atlantides, 
and for the birth of Dardanus, son of Jupiter and Electra, 
daughter of Atlas, King of Arcadia. He says, that the marshes 
have been produced by the fountain near the cave of the Ani- 
griad nymphs, mixing with the Anigros, which is deep and 
sluggish, while the surrounding country is sandy and low. Pau- 
sanias says, that the Anigros is fetid from its very source, which 
is at Mount Lapithos in Arcadia : he adds, that the mouth of 
this river is often retarded in its influx into the sea, by the vio- 
lence of the winds, which prevent the progression of its waters. 
It is now called Mauro-potamo, the black river."f 

The whole country was so much overflowed when Mr. Dod- 
well travelled, that it was difficult to distinguish the river from 
the marsh. There is a fishery here, in a lake formed by the 
waters of the Anigros : tlie fish are admitted in summer time by 
a canal, which is afterwards closed by sand-banks. The soil is 
a deep sand. Near where the lake ends, a road leads off to the 
left to Xerro Chorio. At two hours and twenty minutes from 
the derveni, near where a stream flowing from the hills on the 
east enters the sea, is the Klian of Agio Isidoro (pronounced 
Ayo Sidero), a melancholy spot, nearly deserted. About two 
miles inland, ascending this stream, is a village called Biskini or 
Pischini, near which are small remains of an ancient city, con- 

* Strabo calls the city Samia, and the mountain Samikon. It was celebrat- 
ed for a temple of the Samian Neptune, which stood in a grove of wild olives. 
It probably took its name from its lofty situation, as the Greeks called high 
places Yajioi. Strabo and Pausanias take Samikon to be the same as Arene, 
which Homer places near the river Anigros. — Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 344. 

t Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 345. In like manner, the scirocco sometimes blows with 
such violence at Ostia in the rainy season, that the Tiber stagnates at its mouth, 
aad occasions inundations in many parts. 



198 MODERN GREECE. 

jectnred to be the site of the Triphyliatic or Lepreatic Pylos, 
" and the river may be the Amathos." 

The track continues . to run along a cultivated plain, bounded 
by the sea and by sand-banks clothed with pines on the one 
hand, and by gentle hills on the other. At the end of about an 
hour and three quarters from the khan, a road to the left turns 
up a pretty wooded glen with a river, leading to the village of 
Strovitza. Mr. Dodwell left the road to Arcadia, to explore the 
traces of an ancient city in this direction. In three hours from 
the khan, he reached the first traces of the city, near where a 
rapid rivulet falls down the hill, turning some small mills in its 
course ; and half an hour more brought him to the acropolis. 
" Two entire gates are remaining, of the common square form : 
one of them is almost buried under the ruins and earth, which 
reach nearly to the architrave. The towers are square ; one of 
them is almost entire, and contains a small window or arrow-hole. 
Three different periods of architecture are evident in this for- 
tress. The walls are composed of polygons : some of the 
towers consist of irregular, and others of rectangular quadrilate- 
rals. The ruins extend far below the acropolis on the side of 
the hill, and are seen on a flat detached knoll. It was evidently 
an extensive city. Its situation corresponds nearly to that of 
Lepreos in Triphylia." Strobitza is about a mile and a half to 
the north. An extensive view is obtained from this summit. 
Mr. Dodwell regained the road to Arcadia at the bridge of 
Boutzi, over the Neda; having passed in his way an ancient 
site, distinguishable by old foundations and broken pottery, which 
he supposes to be Pyrgos, the last town of Triphylia. 

The Neda rises on the west side of Mount Lycaeon, forming a 
deep and rocky glen, on the right bank of which are the ruins 
of Phigaleia, about two hours from the bridge. It anciently 
separated Triphylia and Messenia. It is not broad but deep, 
and, after hard rains, very rapid. The road now lies through 
swamps and pine forests, approaching the sea, and crosses a 
clear and shallow river, which has changed its course, rendering 
a fine bridge useless. Soon after, the olive re-appears. At three 
hours and twenty minutes from the khan near the bridge of the 
Neda, the traveller arrives at Arcadia : distance from the ferry 
of Palaio Phanari nearly fourteen hours. 

FROM ARCADIA TO MESSENE. 

From Arcadia, Mr. Dodwell proceeded to visit Mount Ithome 
and the fertile region at the head of the Gulf of Coron. At 



MODERN GREECE. 199 

the end of five hours (4h. 21 min. in the Itinerary) he reached 
Kleissoura, which derives its name from being near the gorge or 
defile that leads to the great Messenian plain. The inhabitants 
were chiefly Greek klephts. Near the village are some imper- 
fect vestiges, " perhaps of the city of Dorion." Three quarters 
of an hour beyond this village, a rapid stream, called Kokla, 
runs southward to the Gulf. Forty minutes further, on the 
right, is seen a high insulated mount, of pointed form, crowned 
with a ruined Venetian castle, which is called indifferently, 
Palaio-kastro, Klephto-kastro, and Mila-kastro. The ruins 
are fine modern towers, perhaps on old foundations. This 
part of the road, which is a narrow defile, was reckoned particu- 
larly dangerous from the robbers.* Soon after, the spacious 
expanse of the Messenian plain, encircled with mountains, bursts 
on the view, and Mount Ithome appears in all its beauty. At 
the end of three hours from Kleissoura, is the large Greek 
village of Konstantino. From a neighbouring hill, "the rich 
plain of Messenia was seen in its full extent, with Mount Ithome, 
the summits of Taygeton, and the broad Pamisos, winding its 
way through the vale of Stenykleros to the Koroneian Gulf." 

From Konstantino to Mavrommati (or Maura-matia, black 
eyes), four miles and twenty-three minutes. The road lies 
through the village of Ahtoura, half an hour beyond which are 
the ruins of a most curious ancient bridge, " perhaps unique in 
Greece," but resembling the triangular bridge at Croyland in 
Lincolnshire. It is built over the confluence of two rivers which 
run southward ; the principal one, the Balyra, and the tributary 
stream, either the Leukasia or the Amphitos. The lower part 
of the bridge is ancient ; it is constructed with large blocks of 
stone, with two pointed buttresses that are still left : the upper 
pkrt is modern. Two piers remain above water, and one to a 
considerable height, whence arches, in three different directions, 
lead to the three points of land formed by the confluence. f At 
three hours from Konstantino is a monastery, beautifully situated 

* The Author was witness to a regular battle at the village of Alitoura be- 
tween the klephts, who, to the number of 140, had obtained possession, and a 
besieging force, consisting of about 100 Greeks and 60 Turks. He afterwards 
met 30 armed Greeks headed by &. papas, repairing, as a reinforcement, to the 
scene of action. The issue was not very bloody. Very few were killed on 
either side : and in the night, the robbers cut their way through the besiegers, 
#and effected a retreat to their castle and to the forests of Ithome. " They 
were headed by a Greek, the terror of the Morea, known by the name of 
Captain George, who, as they told us, spared neither Greeks, Turks, nor 
Franks." His real name was no other than George Colocotroni. He subse- 
quently took refuge in Zante, and entered the English service. 

t Sir W. Gell says, that the bridge "seems to have been constructed with 
approaching blocks, not an arch," a presumptive proof of its antiquity. 



200 MODERN GREECE. 

I 

on the side of Mount Ithome, the foot of which is here com- 
posed of little hills intersected by small valleys cultivated with 
corn. Nothing, Mr. Dodwell says, can exceed the beauty and 
interest of the view from this solitary spot : he pronounces it to 
be one of the finest in Greece. The magnificent range of 
Taygetus, covered with snow, and broken into a diversity of 
gigantic forms, was seen shooting up into the air, far above the 
rich and level plains of Messenia ; while the continuity of the 
outline was finely broken by a beautiful cluster of cypresses in 
the fore-ground. The monastery, which they found deserted, 
but with signs of recent habitation, is of considerable extent. 
In the walls, are " two beautiful feet of a white marble statue." 
Having climbed still higher, the traveller reaches the summit of 
the pass between Mounts Evan and Ithome, and passes the walls 
of the ancient acropolis of Messene ; he then descends to the 
village of Mavrommati, situated in the centre of the ancient 
city, at the southern foot of Ithome, now called Vulkano. It 
had been Mr. Dodwdi's intention to remain some days at this 
interesting spot, in order to accomplish an accurate investigation 
' of these " stupendous ruins, which are so perfect that they ex- 
hibit a complete picture, and excite a most satisfactory idea of 
ancient Greek fortifications." The disturbed state of the coun- 
try, and the panic alarm spread by the robbers, defeated his 
plans. 

MESSENE. 

" Pausanias," remarks the learned Traveller, " appears to 
have felt great interest in the history of the Messenians. His 
description of their wars is more minute and more animated 
than any other part of his narrative. His account of the city 
gives us a grand idea of what it must once have been ; and the 
present splendid remains produce a conviction of his veracity. 
He says : " The walls enclose not only Mount Ithome, but also 
a space which extends towards the Pamisos under Mount Evan. 
The town is enclosed by a good wall of stones, and defended by 
towers and battlements." He adds, that the fortifications are 
the best he ever saw, and superior even to those of Ambrysos, 
Byzantium, and Rhodes. 

" The village is situated on the ruins, about three-quarters of 
a mile from the great gates, the most magnificent ruin of the 
kind in Greece. A circular wall, which is composed of large 
regular blocks, encloses an area of sixty-two feet in diameter. 
In this wall are two gates, one facing Cyparissiai, and the other 
opposite, looking towards Laconia. The architraves have 



MODERN GREECE. 201 

ftdlen ; but that which belonged to the Laconian gate remains 
entii-e, with one end on the ground, and the other leaning against 
a wall. It seems to be pervaded by a fissure, which was occa- 
sioned probably by the fall ; and it is likely that, in a few years, 
this magnificent block, which is nineteen feet long, will be broken 
in two pieces. Within the circular court is a square niche in 
the wall, apparently for a statue. 

" These noble walls were probably constructed with the assis- 
tance of the army of Epaminondas, and the lintel was perhaps 
thrown down by the Spartans at the final subjugation of the 
Messenians, as its destruction could not have been effected 
without violence. Among the ruins of Messene are the remains 
of the stadium and of a theatre which is one of the smallest in 
Greece. Several other traces, masses of fine walls, and heaps 
of stones that are scattered about the plain, are overgrown or 
nearly concealed by large tj-ees or luxuriant shrubs. Pausanias 
mentions a gymnasium, a stadium, a tlieatre, ten temples, and an 
infinity of statues, and particularly an edifice called isgoOvdiov, 
which contained statues of all the gods worshipped in Greece. 
This, however, is inconceivable, as their number must have 
amounted to many thousands. Perhaps he means only the 
great gods.* 

" Many abundant founts and springs, issuing from Ithome, 
diffuse verdure and fertility over this interesting jspot. Pausanias 
notices Klepsydra and Arsinoe, which still remain. The mag- 
nificent walls near t^je great gate are almost entirely preserved ; 
they are composed of square stones of a prodigious size, rustic 
and chipped. The pavement consists of large square stones, in 
which we discern the track of ancient wheels. The towers are 
square, and composed of much smaller stones than the walls. 
A few steps lead up to the door in each tower, in the second 
story of which are two windows of the same form as the doors, 
diminishing towards the top." 

" We ascended by a steep and winding way to the summit of 
Ithome. We passed by several blocks and foundations, and in 
a small plain on the side of the hill, observed the few remains 
of a Doric temple of moderate proportions, consisting of some 
columns and capitals, and blocks of the cella, thrown down and 
almost covered with bushes. There was a bronze statue of 

* " The Abbe Fourmont, who visited these ruins (Mycene) seventjr years 
ago, caunted thirty-eight towers then standing. I think M. Vial" (the French 
Consul at Coron) " informed me that nine of these yet remain entire." — 
Chateaubriand, vol. ii. p. 94. The Abbe cannot, however, be depended 
upon as an authority. 

26 



202 MODERN GREECE. 

Minerva on Ithome ; perhaps this was the temple dedicated to 
that divinity. The form of the area enclosed by the walls of 
this celebrated fortress, is an ■ oblong square. In some places, 
the foundations only can be traced ; in others, some masses of 
the walls remain, composed of large blocks, well hewn and 
united, but with some irregularity in their angles, which are fre- 
quently not right angles, but obtuse or acute. These were 
probably erected prior to the time of Epaminondas. 

" The town of Ithome consisted merely of what was after- 
wards the acropolis, that is, the summit of the mountain ; as the 
lower town of Messene owed its origin to the Thebans, after 
the battle of Leuctra. Ithome was strongly fortified by the 
Messenians in the first Messenian war,* when the inhabitants of 
the country abandoned most of their small cities, which were 
probably not fortified before that period. Indeed, few remains 
of very ancient date are observed in Messenia. The polygon 
or cyclopian walls are very rare, while they often occur in the 
neighbouring and warlike Arcadia. Most of the Messenian 

cities were re-established by Epaminondas It is difficult to 

imagine how the Messenians, when they abandoned their other 
cities, could be collectively crowded within the walls of Ithome. 
Probably, the declivities of the mountain, outside the acropolis 
walls, were covered with habitations ; and this locality is still 
marked by several traces, composed of small stones and tiles. In 
time of danger, the inhabitants abandoned their temporary 
abodes, and retired within the walls. The temple of Jupiter 
Ithomates, of which there are no remains, is now replaced by 
the monastery of St. Elias at the northern extremity of the hill, 
upon the edge of a steep precipice. The festival of Jupiter 
has ceded its oaken crown to the laurel-rose, with which the 
modern Greeks deck their heads in the amiual dance which 
they perform on the summit of Ithome. An even pavement of 
a circular form, which appears modern, but which is composed 
of ancient slabs of stone and marble, forms the theatre for the 
celebration of this dance, which is attended by the inhabitants of 
the neighbouring villages, and in which much pomp and ceremony 
are displayed. 

" Mount Ithome has a flat summit rising gently towards the 
north, where the monastery is erected. Few places in Greece 
combine a more beautiful, and at the same time a more classical 
view. It overlooks the whole extent of the once rich and war- 
like Messenia, which, however, in the time of Strabo, was greatly 
depopulated, as the cities mentioned by Homer had either entire- 

* This began 743 B. C. and lasted twenty years. 



MODERN GREECE. 203 

ly disappeared, had left only faint vestiges, or had changed their 
names. Vicissitudes, similar to those which occurred between 
tlte time of Homer and that of Strabo, have continued from the 
time of tlte geographer to tlie present day. This beautiful and 
fertile region is not half cultivated ; and though irrigated with 
numerous rivulets, and blessed witli a delicious climate, at 
present exhibits only a few moderate villages scattered through 
the country."* 

On quitting Mavrommati, Mr. Dodwell proceeded along the 
northern side of Ithome, having in front the old Venetian castle 
of Mylae, and soon came to a ruined church, with a long block 
of stone and tumulus near it ; he then crossed a stream, and in 
an hour and twenty minutes from the gate of Messene, reached 
the triangular bridge over the Balyra, (now called the Mavro 
Zunie, or black broth,) which, according to Pausanias, was thirty 
stadia from the city. He then struck across the plain, crossing a 
rivulet running N. E., and in twenty minutes passed by the foot 
of an insulated rocky hill of inconsiderable height, rising in the 
middle of the plain. Leaving the road to Scala on the right, 
he reached, at the end of three hours and a half from the gate 
of Messene, the khan of Sakoua, a wretched hovelf at the foot 
of the mountains called Makriplai, wliich form the connecting 
link between Lycseon and Taygetus, and the line of separation 
between Messenia and Arcadia. From this place, he proceeded 
to visit the ruins .of Megalopolis. Before, however, we accom- 
pany him farther in this direction, we shall rejoin Sir William 
Gell at this place on his road to Maina, in order to complete our 
description of the southern coast. 

FROM SCALA TO MAINA. 

The road from the khan of Sakona to Scala traverses the 
Stenyclerian plain in a southerly direction, crossing several 
streams, and having on the left a projection from the great range 
of Taygetus, which, under the name of Mount Pala, advances 
towards Mount Vulcano (Ithome). The plain is marshy, but 
produces maize, and the whole country in this neighbourhood, 
when Sir William Gell travelled, seemed covered with wild lav- 
ender, or hyssop, which, when trampled hj the horses sent forth 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 359—366. 
f'This edifice consistSj as usual in remote situations, of a long- and low- 
shed, with a sort of court, surrounded with smaller hovels and ill-constructed 
walls about eight feet high. There was also some attempt at a garden or 
enclosure, attached to the khan, surrounded with a most dangerous hedge of 
tall Indian prickly fig." 



204 MODERN GREECE. 

an agreeable aromatic odour. Droves of buffaloes were " wal- 
lowing in the marshes." Scala stands on a knoll, part of a low 
range of hills, dividing the plain of Stenyclerus from that of the 
Pamisus. It is an inconsiderable village, with several gardens 
protected by hedges of prickly Indian fig. Near this place, Sir 
William noticed a singular effect produced by a thin undulating 
stratum of rock, which being cracked into innumerable fragments, 
presented the appearance of an immense mosaic pavement. 
The view from these hills is described as very interesting. On 
the right are seen the two summits of Mount Ithome, beautifully 
wooded, each crowned with a little chapel, one of which occu- 
pies the site of the temple of Jupiter. Below is the monastery 
with its cypress-grove. Beyond Mount Vulcano, the peaks of 
Mount Mali, extending its branches westward as far as the town 
of Arcadia, and to Coron and Modon on the south, terminate 
the prospect on that side. Mount Pala forms the eastern bound- 
ary ;* but, to the south, all is open to the gulf, the towers of 
Coron bemg distinctly visible in a S. W. direction, while Capo' 
Grosso, the western promontory of Maina, is seen in the S. E. 
Below spreads the extensive plain of the Pamisus, f partially in- 
undated by its broad stream, and bordered by many little villages-, 
placed on the prettiest green hills imaginable. In the lower part 
of the plain are two towns, Andrutza and Nisi ; the latter in sl 
sort of island, as its name imports. The whole plain is naturally 
fertile, and the eastern part of it near Kalamata is a scene of rich 
cultivation. The fields are divided by high fences of cactus, 
and large orchards of the white mulberry-tree are interspersed 
with maize-fields, olive-grounds, and " gardens alinost worthy of 
Alcinous him.self." The fineness of the climate is indicated by 
the presence of the palma Christi, here called agra staphylia, or 
wild vine, from which is obtained castor-oil. 

About half an hour from Scala, in the plains, are the vestiges 
of a small temple, below which is a rock with a fountain, the 
source of the Pamisus. In the pool which it here forms, Pau- 
sanias states, the ceremony of ablution was anciently performed 
on infants, f At a short distance from this is another rock with 
vestiges of an ancient edifice, and a second source gushes forth, 
forming a river at once. A little farther is a third, equally lim- 
pid and copious, which has been walled round. Some fine trees 

* Sir William Gell says, that Mount Pala formed the boundary on the west 
(Narrative, p. 192.) ; but this must be an error. 

t Now called Pirnatza. 

t The waters were believed to have medicinal virtue. See Travels of Ana^ 
charsis, vol. iii. chap. 40. 



MODERN GREECE. 205 

iiere form the remains of a sacred grove, and a chapel dedicated 
to Agios Giorgios (St. George) marks the site of a fane dedi- 
cated to the old idolatry.* The road over the plain is very ex- 
cellent, owing to the gravelly soil. Several villages occur on 
either side : that of Palio-castro, which is seen on an eminence 
on the left, a litde way beyond a bridge over a strong stream 
from Pedimo, exhibits vestiges of andquity, which mark the site 
of the ancient Thuria. In about two hours from Scala, the 
traveller arrives at a large brick ruin, called Lout7-o {the bath). 
That it w^as destined for that use, is evident from the pipes and 
aqueducts yet remaining : the building has been considerable, 
and is probably of Roman constructioy. The medicinal waters 
might yet be found on the hill ; at present, they seem lost in the 
neighbouring marsh. After passing two ruined churches, the 
road, no longer good, runs between two high hedges of cactus, 
that, almost meeting over it, threaten to shed their brittle and 
prickly branches upon the passengers. The mountains on the 
left cease at a point near the village of Delli Hassan. The town 
of Nisi, of considerable extent, lies on the right. The plain 
produces figs and olives in abundance : under some of the larger 
trees are the stones of chapels long since destroyed. The vil- 
lage of Ais Aga is well planted with cypresses ; and towej's and 
hamlets, with their gardens and orchards, occur in rapid succes- 
sion, presenting all the delights of a southern coast. At the 
village of Asprochomo (white earth), the soil assumes a red ap- 
pearance, and there are several scattered sand-hills. On a 
mount to the left is the monastery of Agios Gas. The road 
now descends into a hollow, planted with the mulberry-tree, the 
mastich, the fig, the cypress, the orange, the lemon, and the 
olive ; and in another half hour, after crossing a rividet, (the an- 
cient Nedon,) which descends from Taygetus, the traveller en- 
ters the town of Kalamata, delightfully situated in the midst of 

* The agiasmaia, or holy fountahis, may be ranked among the most classical 
superstitions of the modern Greeks. Circumstances of various import have con- 
ferred the reputation of sanctity upon many springs within the walls of Con- 
stantinople ; but a romantic and solitary situation, the neighbourhood of a 
cavern or a grove, is the usual characteristic of an agaisma. To these foun- 
tains multitudes will tiock at certain intervals, to invoke the saint (the genius 
loci) whose protection they are peculiarly thought to enjoy, and, by their songs 
and dances, to express the gay and joyous feelings which such situations have 
ever excited in the glowing constitutions of the Greeks. Their sick are brought 
in crowds to drink the waters, which, destitute of all medicinal qualities in 
themselves,- owe their influence entirely to the patronage of some superior 
being ; and it would be thought the greatest impiety and ingratitude in those 
who receive, or fancy they receive his help, to neglect affixing a lock of hair 
or a strip of linen, as the votiva tabula, which may record at once the power of 
the saint, and the piety of his votary." Douglas on the Modern Greeks, p. 61- 



206 MODERN GREECE. 

these gardens on the banks of the stream ; distance from Scala 
four hours and a quarter ; from Sakona, nearly six hours ; and 
nine hours and a half from Leondari. 

" Sheltered as Kalamata is from the north by the high projec- 
tion of Taygetus, and by the main mass of the mountain running 
down to Cape Matapan on the east, it is not surprising," remarks 
the learned Traveller, " that a fruitful plain should produce every 
thing in the greatest luxuriance, and that the climate, compared 
virith that of the interior, should be of the most delightful tempe- 
rature, about 61'^ of Fahrenheit early in the month of March, 
which is perhaps the most disagreeable season in the year on the 
shores of the Mediterranean." 

" Kalamata* derives its name from Kalamse, a village about 
two miles further inland, which still exists, and retains its ancient 
name. The cultivation of the plains, and the modern buildings 
erected during the period that the Venetians possessed this fertile 
territory, have nearly obliterated the few remains of antiquity. 
Mr. Morritt, who travelled through this district in the year 1795, 
thus describes the appearance of the place. " The modern 
town (consisting of perhaps 300 houses) is built on a plan not 
unusual in this part of the Morea, and well adapted for the de- 
fence of the inhabitants against the attacks of the pirates that 
infest the coast. Each house is a separate edifice, and many of 
them are high square towers of brown stone, built while the Ve- 
netians had possession of the country. The lower story of their 
habitations serves chiefly for offices or warehouses of merchan- 
dise, and the walls on every side are pierced with loop-holes for 
the use of musketry, while the doors are strongly barricadoed. 
A small Greek church stands near the Nedon in front of Cala- 
mata ; and behind the town, a ruined Venetian fortress rises on a 
hill, over the gardens and dwellings of the inhabitants. The 
Greeks who lived there, were rich and at their ease ; the fields 
in the vicinity of the town belonged to them, and they had also 
a considerable trade, the. chief articles of which arose from their 
cultivation of silk and oil.f They were governed by men of 
their own nation and appointment, subject only to the approval 
of the Pasha of the Morea, who resided at Tripolitza, and to the 
payment of a tribute which was collected among themselves, 
and transmitted by a Turkish Vaivode, who, with a small party 

* Mr. Morritt suggests, that Kalamata may probably occupy the site of 
Pherse, which, according to Pausanias, stood at six stadia from the sea, in the 
way from Abia to Thuria, and near where the Nedon fell into the sea. The 
mouth of the stream of Kalamata is about a mile below the town. 

t A quantity of figs (about 5000 okes) are annually exported to Coron and 
Trieste. Swan's Joxmial, vol. ii. p. 211. 



MODERN GREECE. 207 

of Janissaries, was stationed here for that purpose, and for the 
defence of tlie town against the Mainotes."* 

The town has since been laid in utter ruin by Ibrahim Pasha ; 
but the adjacent country, when Captain Hamilton passed through 
it in September 1825, exhibited few or no traces of Turkish de- 
vastation. Women were seen labouring in the vineyards ; plan- 
tations of fig-tree and mulberry abounded in the plain ; and in 
passing through the green shady lanes, formed by the hedges of 
prickly pear, its red oblong fruk Itvmg in rich clusters, festooned 
with bunches of grapes and blackberries. 

Mr. Morritt describes some considerable ruins which occur be- 
tween Calamata and Palaio Castro, wliich might be taken for the 
place described by Sir William Gell, were not the direction in 
which they occur, apparently far to the eastward of his route. 
" Leaving Calamata," he says, " we passed the village of 
Kutchuk-Maina, (Little Maina,) and skirting the mountain of 
Taygetus, which rose on our right-hand, we came in about an 
hour to the ruins of ancient baths, of which the buildings that 
remain are very considerable. The structure is of brick. The 
principal entrance, which is to the south, leads into a large vaulted 
hall with groined, semicircular arches : on each side of the 
enti'ance are rooms which had rows of pipes in the walls for the 
conveyance of hot water, of which pipes the fragments still re- 
main. The hall has a large arch on each side, and extends 
beyond the arches to the east and west extremities of the 
building. An arched passage between other bath-rooms, corre- 
sponding to the entrance, leads from the north side of the hall 
into a spacious saloon, the ceiling of which is also vaulted with 
groined arches ; the aspect is to the north. In these bath-rooms 
remain contrivances for heating the apartments, and in one, the 
wall is cased with tiles, perforated for the admission of steam. 
A small bath is at the end of the eastern suit of rooms, which 
has been lined with stucco. This has been supplied with hot 
water from the pipes. The water used here appears, from the 
sediment near the pipes and on the walls, to have been impreg- 
nated with sulphur. A detached semicircular reservoir, still 
traceable to the east of the building, supplied the water for its 
use. The rooms to the north-east are in ruins ; the rest, though 
stripped of the marble ornaments which once adorned them, 
remain entire. The bricks are of the size and feature of the 
Roman bricks, and probably the building itself must be referred 
to that people, though it appears to have been used long after 
the decline of the Roman dominion." 

* Walpole's Memoirs, p. 35. 



208 MODERN GREECE. 

From this place, Mr. Morritt continued his journey to 
Palaio Castro, where he found a village, still inhabited, in the 
midst of the ruins of the ancient city. These cover an area of 
nearly two miles in circuit, and parts of the ancient wall of Thuria 
may still be traced, by the foundations that remain on a hill at the 
foot of Taygetus, which retains many vestiges of the former 
town. Among them were scattered several marble tympana 
of fluted columns of the Doric order ; " probably the remains 
of the temple dedicated to the* Syrian goddess." A large oblong 
cistern or tank hewn in the rock, still retains in some places the 
coat of cement with which it was lined : it is twenty-three yards 
in length, by sixteen in breadth, and about fourteen in depth, but 
is partially filled up. The vestiges of the city subsequently built 
in the plain,^.are far more indistinct : the soil there is rich and 
deep, and is broken into platforms and angles of a singular 
appearance by the waters from the mountains. Some of. these 
are so regular as to present almost the appearance of a modern 
fortification. " Here, however, the Aris, an inconsiderable 
stream, still flows to the Pamisus ; and w^hile the ancient walls 
are visible on the hill, the fertility of the plain has obliterated the 
more recent habitations of the Thurians. 

' Deep harvests bury all their pride has planri'd, 
And laughing Ceres re-assumes the land.' "* 

From Kalamata, the road runs eastward for about twenty 
minutes, before it turns to the south, to skirt the shores of the 
bay of Koron, wliile another branch turns off to the left to Kut- 
chuk-Maina, and through the mountains to Mistra.f In about 
forty minutes, the number of trees and the signs of cultivation 
diminish, and on crossing a river, the traveller enters the Mai- 
note territory. The road now lies under Mount Jenitza, within 
a few hundred yards of the sea, at the angle of the gulf formed 
by the mountains of Maina and the plain of Kalamata. The 
land is cultivated with corn, where tillage is practicable ; and Sir 
William Gell noticed many stone enclosures, about thirty feet 
square, intended as a protection to young olive-trees. Here and 

* Walpole's Memoirs pp. 37 — 39. 

t Dr. Bronsted of Copenhagen undertook to pass by this rugged and peril- 
ous route from Mistra to Kalamata, in 1804 ; and he accomplished his hazard- 
ous enterprise in personal safety, but with the loss of his watch, medals, and 
other valuables : these, however, he succeeded in recovering. " After a long' 
ascent and passing a cultivated valley which extends on the east side of Tay- 
getus between the main mass of the mountain and the lower range at its foot, 
he arrived at Pischino-chorio. Thence he employed six hours on the road to 
Kutchuk Maina, and from that place descended in three hours to Kalamata." 
Gell's Narrative, p. 252. 



MODERN GREECE. 209 

there were fields of chamomile and lupins. A village called 
Kalithea-Chorio is seen on the side of a liillon the left, and near 
the road, the leal'ned Traveller observed a new chapel, " a rare 
occurrence in any part of Turkey." On the right, a few minutes 
lurther on, is a saline spring, the waters of which are used as medi- 
cine by the Mainotes. At the distance of about an hour and a half 
from Kalamata, a deep ravine, the bed of a mountain torrent, 
crosses the road, affording a strong natural defence of the terri- 
tory, which the Mainotes have improved by walls and two tov/- 
ers, so as to secure the pass between Mount Jenitza and the sea.* 
The place is named from the salt source, Almiro. High up in 
the mountains is seen the village of Selytza.f Half an hour 
further, after crossing the beds of two more torrents, is a spot 
called Mylag (the Mills), where a furious stream of salt water, 
gushing at once from a cavern at the foot of the mountain, turns 
the wheels of two or three mills, which gives its name to the 
place. J The natives say, that the water runs through subterra- 
neous channels from the Gulf of Kolokythia at Marathonisi, and 
that the volume increases whenever the wind blows strongly from 
the south-east ; but this " strange fancy," which prevails in other 
parts of Greece, Sir W. Gell ascribes to the vulgar notion that 
all salt springs must have their origin in the sea. Close to the mills 
is a square stone tower, the residence of a Mainote chieftain ; and 
near some old cypresses, is a manufactory of common tiles. 
Medenia, a small town, is seen on the left.<5> The road now runs 

* " We are assured," says Sir William Gell, "that this had been the scene 
of a sanguinary conflict between the Turks and the Mainotes, wherein the 
former had been completely routed, and beyond this line had never penetrated 
into Maina." 

t " Armyros (Almiro) is at the distance of about a league and a half from 
Calamatte, This is,, properly speaking, only a port where a tower has been 
built, with some shops occupied by bakers and other venders of provisions. 
The town of Selitza, to which this is the port, stands upon the declivity of a 
mountain facing the N. W., and contains about 300 houses. Its inhabitants, a 
hardy athletic race, do not unite in marriage with the Greeks in the towns un- 
der tlie government of the Turks : proud of their liberty, they can with difficulty 
submit to their own bey. The little commerce they carry on in the Gulf of 
Coron is, however, negotiated entirely by this rTiagistrate." Pouqueville's 
Travels, translated hyJi. Plumpire, p. 108. 

:j: Mr. Morritt remarks, that these salt streams were anciently between Phe- 
rae and Abia, " and now divide the district of Kalamata from the Maina." Sir 
W. Gell, however, makes the boundary to be a river forty minutes from Kala- 
mata, and about twice that distance from Mylse. Atmiro must be in the Mai- 
note territory. 

§ " Mandinies" (the Medenia of Sir William Gell, — Mr. Swan calls it Ma- 
dela) " is the second town upon the coast immediately dependent on the Bey. 
It lies two leagues and a half from Calamatte one league from Armyros, and 
half a league frosn the sea. The town, though consisting of not above 150' 
houses, is divided into Great and Little Mandinies. The latter division is built 
27 



210 MODERN GREECE. 

under a low, overhanging cliff, which projects so as to leave room 
for only a narrow path along the beach, and after passing two 
little capes, leads to Palaio Chora (the old town), " now reduced 
to a single church, near which are several wells; and the bro- 
ken tiles, together with the name, seem to shew that a population 
once existed on this spot. There is a fountain here, where ships 
sometimes water."* The high snowy peaks of Taygetus are 
now visible. A little farther, the traveller passes another neglected 
church in a glen, and near it, a well, on a rapid and dangerous 
rocky descent, leading down to another tile-manufactory, at the 
head of a little bay. On descending from the rock, some caves 
and another church are seen on the right. After crossing a 
glen watered by a little stream from Taygetus, another pass, 
between a projecting rock and the sea, leads to a bay with a 
stream ; and now the towers of the castle of Kitries assume an 
imposing appearance, well seated on a rocky promontory, over- 
looldng a little dark bay in which ships may anchor. The dis- 
tance from Kalamata is rather more than three hours and a half.f 
Mr. Morritt thus describes the general appearance of this part of 
the coast. 

"From Myla, the mountains of Taygetus rise in high rides to 
the east, and descend in rocky slopes to the sea. The country 
is barren and stony beyond conception ; and yet, the earth, 
which is washed by the rains and torrents from the higher parts, 



on the slope of Mount Saint Helias, the highest summit of Taygetus : the 
Great Mandinies stands at the foot of the slope. Its chief productions are oil 
and silk, and it is particularly celebrated for tlie purity of its air. The valley 
which runs at the foot of this mountain, is embellished with several hamlets 
picturesquely situated : in following the course of a little river which flows 
through it, we come to the ruins of an ancient town called by the inhabi- 
tants, Palseochori. From the ruins of some temple, they have built a church, 
which is called Siavros. It is not surrounded with houses ; but it is a place of 
assembly on festival days, and the inhabitants of Mandinies repair thither to 
hear mass," he. Pouquevili.e's Travels, p. 108. 

* This is apparently the place referred to by Mr. Morritt as the site of Abia, 
although the distance does not quite agree. The ruins, he says, are on the 
shore, about a mile southward of the salt springs. " One old piece of wall of 
massive masonry, of a circular form, and the remains of a mosaic pavement 
in the floor of a modern Greek church, are all the vestiges of antiquity that 
ascertain the spot where Abia stood, except the platform and marks on the 
ground which indicate that, other buildings formerly existed. In the tradition 
of the country, the circular ruin had been a bath." The distance of Abia from 
Mylse, according to Mr. Morritt, answers, however, more nearly to the situa- 
tion of the caves and church mentioned by Sir W. Gell, a quarter of a mile 
from Palaio Chora. M. Pouqueville supposes Palaio Chora to be Pheras. 

t Kitries, which is the canton of Zarnata, is reckoned ten miles from Kala- 
mata, and thirty from Vitulo ; eight hours from Mistra-by the shortest route ; 
or, over Mount Taygetus, ten hours ; and twenty hours from TripoUtza ; four- 
teen miles across the bay to Coron, and thirty to Modon. 



MODERN GREECE. 211 

is supported on a thousand platforms and terraces by the inde- 
fatigable industry of the inhabitants ; and diese were covered 
widi corn, maize, olives, and mulberry-trees, which seemed to 
grow out of the rock itself. Through such a country we arrived 
at Kiti'ees, a small hamlet of five or six cottages scattered round 
a fortress, the residence (in 1795) of Zanetachi Kutuphari, 
formerly Bey of the Maina, and of his niece Helena, to whom 
the property belonged. The house consisted of two towers of 
stone, exactly resembling our own old towers upon the borders 
of England and Scotland 5 a row of offices and lodgings for 
servants, stables, and open sheds, inclosing a court, the entrance 
to which was through an arched and embattled gateway."* 

The reception which the English Traveller met with from the 
old laird was most hospitable, and the description conveys a 
pleasing idea of the manners of these Laconian highlanders, 

" On our approach, an armed retainer of the family came out 
to meet us, and spoke to our guard who attended us from Myla. 
He returned with him to the castle, and informed the chief, who 
hastened to the gate to welcome us, surrounded by a crowd of 
gazing attendants, all surprised at the noA^elty of seeing English 
guests. We were received^ however, with the most cordial 
welcome, and shewn to a comfortable room on the principal 
floor of the tower, inhabited by himself and his family ; the other 
tower being the residence of the capitanessa, his niece, for that 
was the title which she bore. 

"Zanetachi Kutuphari was a venerable figure, though not 
above the age of fifty-six. His family consisted of a wife and 
four daughters, the younger two of which were children. They 
inhabited the apartment above ours, and were, on our arrival, in- 
troduced to us. The old chief, who himself had dined at an earlier 
hour, sat down, however, to eat with us, according to the established 
etiquette of hospitality here, while his wife and tlie two younger 
cMldren waited on us, notwithstanding our remonstrances, ac- 
cording to the custom of the country, for a short time ; then 
retired, and left a female servant to attend us and him. At 
night, beds and mattresses were spread on the floor, and pillows 
and sheets, embroidered and composed of broad stripes of mus- 
lin and coloured silk, were brought in. The articles we found 
were manufactured at home by the women of the family. As 
the Greeks themselves invariably wear their under garments 

* Sir W. Gell was struck with " the effect of the architecture," as being " ex- 
actly that produced by many of the castles of Scotland, and at the same time 
full of picturesque beauty." Uader the castle is a great natural cavern, where 
cattle are kept. 



.212 MODERN GREECE. 

when they sleep, the inconvenience of such a bed is llttk 
felt. 

" As the day after our arrival at Kitrees was Easter Sunday, 
We of course remained there, and had an opportunity of witness- 
ing and partaking in the universal festivity which prevailed, not 
only in the castle, but in the villages of the country round it. 
In every Greek house, a lamb is killed at this season, and the 
Utmost rejoicing prevails. We dined with Zanetachi Kutaphari 
and his family at their usual hour of half-past eleven in tlie fore-^ 
noon, and after our dinner, were received in much state by his 
niece Helena in her own apartments. She was in fact the lady 
of the castle, and chief of the district round it, which was her 
own by inheritance from her father. She was a young widow, 
and still retained much of her beauty ; her manners were pleas- 
ing and dignified. An audience in form from a young woman, 
accompanied by her sister, who sat near her, and a train of 
attendant females in the rich and elegant dress of the country, 
Was a novelty in our tour, and so unlike the customs which pre- 
vailed within a few short miles of the spot where we were, that 
it seemed like an enchantment of romance. The capitanessa 
alone was seated at our entrance, who, when she had offered us 
chairs, requested her sister to sit down near her, and ordered her 
attendants to bring coffee and refreshments. We were much 
struck with the general beauty of the Mainiot women here, 
which, we afterwards found, was not confined to Kitrees ; we 
remarked it in many other villages ; and it is of a kind that, 
from their habits of life, would not naturally be expected. With 
the same fine features that prevail among the beauties of Italy 
and Sicily, they have the delicacy and transparency of com- 
plexion, with the brown or auburn hair, which seems peculiar to 
the colder regions. Indeed, from the vicinity to the sea, the 
summers here are never intensely hot, nor are the winters severe 
in this southern climate. The same causes in some of the Greek 
islands produce the same effect, and the women are much more 
beautiful in general than those of the same latitude on the con- 
tinent. The men, too, are a well-proportioned and active race, 
not above the middle size, but spare, sinewy, and muscular. 
The capitanessa wore a light blue shawl-gown embroidered with 
gold, a sash tied loosely round her waist, and a short vest with- 
out sleeves, of embroidered crimson velvet. Over these was a 
dark green velvet Polonese mande, with wide and open sleeves, 
also richly embroidered. On her head was a green velvet cap, 
embroidered with gold, and appearing like a coronet ; and a 
white and gold muslin shawl, fixed on the right shoulder, and 



MODERN GREECE. 213 

passed across her bosom under die left arm, floated over the 
coronet, and hung to the ground behind her. Her uncle's dress 
was equally magnificent. He wore a close vest with open 
sleeves of white and gold embroidery, and a short black velvet 
mantle, the sleeves edged with sable. The sash which held his 
pistols and his poniard was a shawl of red and gold. His light 
blue trowsers were gathered at the knee, and below them were 
close gaiters of blue cloth with gold embroidery, and silver gilt 
bosses to protect the ancles. When he left the house, he flung 
on his shoulders a rich cloth mantle with loose sleeves, which 
was blue without and red within, embroidered with gold in front 
and down the sleeves in the most sumptuous manner. His tur- 
ban was green and gol4 ; and, contrary to the Turkish custom, 
liis grey hair hung down below it. The dress of the lower 
orders is in tlie same form, with necessary valuations in the quali- 
ty of the materials, and absence of the ornaments. It differed 
considerably from that of the Turks, and the shoes were made 
either of yellow or untanned leather, and fitted tightly to the 
foot. The hair was never shaved, and the women wore gowns 
like those of the West of Europe, instead of being gathered at 
the ancles like the loose trowsers of the East. 

" In the course of the afternoon we walked into some of the 
neighbouring villages ; the inhabitants were every where dancing 
and enjoying themselves on the green, and those of the houses 
and little harbour of Kitrees, with the crews of two small boats 
that were moored there, were employed in the same way till late 
in the evening. We found our friead Zaqetachi well acquaint- 
ed with both the ancient and the modern state of Maina, having 
been for several years the bey of the district. From him I 
derived much of the informadon to which I have recourse in 
describing the manners and principles of the Mainicts. He told 
me that, in case of necessity, on attack from the Turks, the 
numbers they could bring to act, consisting of every man in the 
country able to bear arms, amounted to about 12,000. All of 
these were trained to the use of the rifle even from tlieir child- 
hood, and after they grew up, were possessed of one, without 
which they never appeared ; and, indeed, it was as much a part 
of their dress as a sword formerly was of an English gentleman. 
Their constant familiarity with this weapon had rendered them 
singularly expert in the use of it. There are fields near every 
village, where the boys practised at the target, and even the 
girls and women took their part in this martial amusement. 

" We left Kitrees, not without regret on our part, or the kind 
expression of it on that of our hospitable friends, who supplied 



214 MODERN GREECE. 

US with mules, and sent with us an escort to conduct us to Car- 
damoula, the ancient Cardamyle."* 

Kitriees is described by M. Pouqueville in 1799, as little more 
than a heap of ruins. " Burned by the Albanians, it is now 
composed only of some shops and a sort of castle or tower 
where the Bey resides : in fact, it is only the port to another 
town which lies eastward half a league inland. f This town is 
called Dolous : it stands in a fertile valley, which runs some way 
among the mountains of Taygetus, extending almost half a 
league in breadth. Dolous is divided into the higher and lower 
towns, one-half being upon the declivity of the mountain, and 
the other spreading out in the valley. It is very populous, the 
number of houses being estimated at more than 500 : they are 
all inhabited by numerous families, and, if necessary, the town 
could easily furnish 600 warriors. On the slope opposite to 
Dolous, and about half a league from it, stands a large village 
called Varousi, where the bishop of the canton (who is always 
called the bishop of ZarnataJ) resides. Varousi is very inferior 
to Dolous in extent and population, as it does not contain above 
150 houses; but, to make amends, it abounds with churches, 
and is inhabited by a number of clergy and papas. Half a league 
further eastward, on the same slope with Valousi, stands Moul- 
titza, another village of the canton of Zarnata, consisting of about 
100 houses. Sillc, oil, wine, and corn abound in all this part of 
the country, and its population has increased exceedingly during 
the last twenty years. Some rivulets and a number of springs 

* Walpole's Memoirs, pp. 45 — 48 Zanetachi Kutuphari (or Coiitoufari) 
was descended from one of the first families in Maina. Morosini^ the Vene- 
tian general, conferred on John Coutoufari, one of his ancestors, the honour 
of knighthood. The family were in possession of the lordship of three vil- 
lages in the district of Kalamata, and had several mills — probably at Mylse. 
They lost the greater part of this property owing to the troubles brought upon 
the Morea by the Russian war. In 1776, Zanetachi was appointed Bey of 
Maina by the Capitan Pasha, which had nearly proved his ruin. For some 
time he was a fugitive in Zante ; and M. Pouqueville will have it, that in 1787, 
he was strangled by order of the Capitan Pasha ; but if so, he must have 
come to life again in 1795, when Mr. Morritt was his guest. 

t In like manner, Almiro forms the port to Selitza. This may serve to ac- 
count for the deserted state of the coasts, which give little idea of the condi- 
tion of the interior. Sir W. Gell ridicules the Greeks for submitting to the 
inconvenience of residing in the sterile fastnesses of the mountain tops, " for 
the sake of calling themselves free," when under the mild and beneficent gov- 
ernment of the Turks, (the object of Sir William's unbounded admiration,) 
they might live " in the luxury and plenty of the plain below." The fact 
appears to be, that the coasts are rendered unsafe by piratical depredators. 

:|; M. Pouqueville asserts, that there is no town of this name, but that it is a 
canton, " the richest, the most populous, and the most fertile of the whole 
country," containing fifty villages not very widely scattered. Mr. Morritt. 
however, enumerates it among the villages. 



MODERN GREECE. 215 

water these defiles. At the bottom of the valley near Varousi, 
is a village called Cambro Stavro^" 

In 1825, when Captain Hamilton landed at Kitrees on his 
way to the camp of Ibraliim Pasha, the village, though consisting 
of not more than eight or ten cottages, was crowded with inhabi- 
tants, the retainers of the far-famed Pietro Bey Mavromikhalis, 
who was then residing here. The Bey had 200 followers con- 
stantly about him. Mr. Swan thus describes the place. " Kit- 
rees stands upon a rock deeply embayed within surrounding 
mountains. The northern shore presents a series of natural 
terraces rising one above the other. There is great depth of 
water in tlie bay, even up to the very rocks, so much so, that it 
is necessary to secure vessels by a hawser attached to the shore. 
The place abounds with fig-trees. Behind the Bey's house is a 
small ruined castle, once held by the Turks, but blown down with 
cannon during a civil war." The Bey himself is thus describ- 
ed : — " A goodly personage, corpulent and short. His features 
expressed extreme goodnature, but not much understanding. His 
eyes project ; his face is broad and chubby ; and his mustachios, 
by undue training, unite with his whiskers, which are clipped 
above and below, but suffered to run wild in the centre, and are 
therefore drawn out to a prodigious length. He wore an Alba- 
nian dress, begirt with a splendid shawl of rich gold embroidery : 
a silver gilt pistol, highly chased, was attached to his belt. His 
presence was that of a respectable old gentleman, of about fifty 
years of age, over whom the finger of care has moved lightly, leav- 
ing none of those impressions which prey upon and overpower the 
mental energies.* He was attended by a number of military 
chiefs, in a common sort of chamber, for the appearance of 
which he thought it necessary to apologise. It was a barrack, 
he said ; his house was upon Capo Grosso, where his family 
then resided. 

"■ We were called to dinner," continues Mr. Swan, who gives 
the account, " at five o'clock ; and though a fast day with our 
worthy host, he entertained us sumptuously, while he abstained 
himself. As the night drew on, a dependent with a long black 
beard held over us a lighted lamp, and stood like a statue the 
whole time we were eating. This again reminded us of ancient 
Highland torch-bearers ; an instance of which, if I mistake not^ 
we find in the ' Legend "of Montrose.' Soups and fishes in every 

* See p. 142, note. M. Pouqueville, with his accustomed disregard of ac- 
curacy for the sake of effect, speaks of his " port majestueux, pareil a celui 
des races heroiques, de beaux traits, ^c. .' " — Hisioire de la Regen., ^c, torn. ii. 
p. 579. 



216 MODERN GREECK. 

form, all excellently cooked, with country wine of admirable 
flavour, were abundantly supplied. At eight, our couch was 
spread (for we were to start at daylight) where we had dined. 
That part divided from the rest, and called the divan, (it had 
once, doubtless, been a Turkish residence,) with the space be- 
tween, was occupied by our company, including the Greek and 
Turk who travelled under our escort. On the left of the 
entrance, was a small door leading to a kind of balcony, which 
overlooked the sea. Here, with the clear blue sky for a canopy, 
and the murmuring ocean for their lullaby, our host had depos- 
ited the females of his family, among whom was an Arab slave, 
the most comely-looking creature of the kind that I have seen. 
Close by, in our own apartment, the Bey took up his rest. Two 
other Greeks, his attendants, lay on the side opposite to him, 
where stood a lamp, suspended from a short wooden stick. 
Over the partition forming the divan, was a small recess, in which 
the Panagia (All holy, applied to the Virgin) slumbered — or 
watched over her votaries, assisted by a lamp of oil, lighted up 
as the dusk approached, and secured by a small glass door 
covering the recess. The whole scene before us was very 
striking. Our situation being at the higher end of the chamber, 
we had a good prospect of its entire length, for the lamp was 
suffered to burn through the night.. The party were extended 
on mats in various portions of the room, the walls of which were 
decorated with weapons — guns, pistols, and swords ; a broad- 
head lance or two rested in the corner. I could scarcely pre- 
vent my fancy from revelling in all the luxury of romantic ad- 
venture. Our old host, having divested himself of his scull-cap, 
outer drawers, and jacket, lay along his mat in the shape of a 
huge mound, swelling gradually to the apex. His secretary 
kneeled beside him, armed with pen, ink, and paper, and em- 
ployed in scribbling the despatches he was dictating for Colo- 
cotroni and the captains we were likely to meet with in. our way. 
The lamp stood near them, and cast a strong gleam upon their 
countenances, made more picturesque by the long hair of the 
Bey, which swept the ground as he reposed. 

" In the morning, we resumed our conference with the Bey 
relative to the release of his son. Tears stood in his eyes when 
he told us the misfortunes of his family. One of his children 
fell at Carysto, another at Neo-Kastro, while a third remained 
prisoner at Modon : one of his nephews was killed at the begin- 
ning of the Revolution, and his brother, at this time, was a mem- 
ber of the senate at Napoli. These circumstances he enumer- 
ated to prove the sincerity of his patriotism, and to shew the 



MODERN GREECE. 217 

exertions his family had made. He had supported the Revohi- 
tion almost from the very commencement ; and could we be the 
means of emancipating his son, nothing within the compass of his 
ability should be wanting to testify his gratitude — not though it 
were the last drop of his blood."* 

We now return to Mr. IMorritt, whom we left on the point of 
setting out for Kardamoula, distance three hours (about ten 
miles) from Kitries. The southern point of the bay is formed 
by a rocky promontory about half a mile in length. " On 
leaving tlie village," continues Mr. Morritt, " we ascended by a 
winding road in a soudi-easterly direction, until we came to the 
top of this stony ridge, and looked down on a valley enclosed 
by mountams still more to the east. Several little villages and 
churches are scattered over the vale and on the sides of the hills 
that surround it. Behind them rose a high, black, and barren 
range of mountains, the summits of which were covered with 
snow. Li one of these villages we were shewn, on inquiring 
after antiquities, an old ruined tower, of a construction more 
recent than the Grecian age, and we thought it was probably of 
Venetian workmanship. The valley itself and the lower hills 
were cukivated like a garden, and formed a scene of great 
beauty. The principal villages in this tract are Dokyes, Barussa, 
and Zarnata, among these may perhaps be discovered the traces 
of some of the ancient towns of the Eleuthero-Laconians, 
enumerated by Pausanias, near Gerenia. 

" We were amused, in passing through several of these little 
hamlets, with the simple curiosity of the people. The men who 
escorted us, requested with great submission that we would stop 
on the road, until they could apprise their friends of our arrival, 
because most of them had never seen a stranger, and none ol 
them had ever seen an Englishman. The words were no 
sooner given, than off they ran, and as the tidings were spread,- 
and shouts were heard and answered from the fields, labour 
stood still, and men, women, and children flocked round us on 
our approach. Their appearance was such as I have described ; 
the men well-formed and active, the women in general fairer 
than the other Greeks, and very beautiful. The men in succes- 
sion shook us cordially by the hand, and welcomed us to their 
country, and crowds followed us as we proceeded on our journey. 
The road from hence led us in a southerly direction over a most 
stony and barren ridge to the shore, and afterwards continued 
along the sea until our arrival at Cardamyla. The country 

* Swan's Journal, vol. ii. pp. 202 — 9. See p. 155, and 159. 

28 



218 MODERN GREECE. 

round it, though cultivated in the same laborious manner, was still 
more stony and barren than at Kitrees. Even in the small 
fissures of the rock, olives and mulberries were planted, and 
spots of only a few feet in diameter were dug over, and sown 
with corn and maize. On the hills, there were many apiaries,- 
and the produce is of the finest sort of honey, equal almost to 
that of Hymettus, but of a paler colour.* 

" Cardamylaf is now a small village, in which were three or 
four towers, the property of chieftains who possessed the country 
round it. We had letters to them from Zanetachi Kutuphari, 
and from the merchants of Kalamata, and a dispute again arose 
for the pleasure of receiving us. At last, we were shewn to the 
largest of these towers, and treated with all possible hospitality. 
The whole village flocked to our house, and we found that nearly 
all the men were relations of the chiefs and of each other ; as, 
in these districts, families seldom migrated, and the different 
branches of the clan remained with the principal stock, in whose 
house there was a collection of brothers, and nephews, and 
cousins, to, a remote degree of aflinity, who, as they became too 
numerous, settled themselves on the land in other houses, but 
seldom at a distance from the family. 

" Behind the town is a small rocky eminence, on whose sum- 
mit were a few vestiges of the ancient acropolis of Cardamyla. 
Just enough remained to point out the situation ; the rock itself was 
split by a deep chasm, ascribed by tradition to an earthquake. 
At the foot of this rock was seen a heap of stones, the monu- 

* " The dry, stony rocks of Cardamoula, exposed to the sea air, abound 
with the wild thyme, the favourite food of the bees ; and, on our return, we 
were served with a plate of honey, to which even that of Hymettus yielded 
in point of flavour and pureness, being of a transparent amber colour. We 
were also served with some phaskomelia, sage-apples, the inflated tumour 
formed upon a species of sage by the puncture of a cynips." — Extract from 
Dr. Sibthorp's Papers in. IValpole's Memoirs, p. 62. Dr. Sibthorp made an 
unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit of Taygetus from Cardamoula. He 
had proceeded about six hours, and had advanced two-thirds of the way up 
the mountain, when he was compelled to halt, the guides agreeing that, from 
the snow and the distance of the summit, it would be impossible to reach it and 
return to Cardamoula before night. " Though we had reached the region of 
the silver fir," says Dr. S., " we were not sufficiently advanced to find those 
Alpine plants which the height of the summit promised. We dined under a 
rock, from whose side descended a purling spring among violets, primroses, 
and the starry hyacinth, mixed with black saiyriiim, and different- coloured 
orches. The flowering ash hung from the sides of the mountain, under the 
shade of which bloomed saxifrages and the snowy isopyrum, with the campan- 
ula pyramidalis, called ^(^apicSvri, and yielding abundance of a sweet milky fluid. 
Our guides made nosegays of the fragrant leaves of the fraxinella ; the com- 
mon nettle was not forgotten as a pot-herb ; but the imperatoria seemed the 
favourite sallad. Among the shrubs, I noticed our gooseberry-tree, and the 
celtis australis grew wild among the rocks." — lb. p. 63. 
t Sir W. Gell writes it Scardaniula. 



MODERN GREECE. 219 

inent of Turkish invasion. These were pointed out to us with 
all tlie enthusiasm of successful liberty, such as I had witnessed 
and remembered among the Swiss on shewing the monuments 
of their former glory, before they yielded their independence 
and their feelings to the thraldom of France. Here, amid the 
scenes of slavery that surrounded us, the contrast was still more 
sti'iking. Below the acropolis were several caves, and the re- 
mains of ancient sepulchres. We were shewn the spot where 
tlie children of the \'illage are taught the use of the rifle, and 
found that they practised it at ten, and even eight years of age. 
A groupe of girls and women on the village green were slinging 
stones and bullets at a mark, and seemed very expert. Their 
figures were light and active, but neither these nor their faces 
were more coarse or masculine than those of their enervated and 
languid countrywomen. The chief of Cardamyla assured us, 
that, in their petty wars, they had more than once followed their 
fathers and brothers to the field, and that the men were more 
eager to distinguish themselves before the eyes of their female 
companion, and partakers in the danger. Dances on the green 
succeeded in this season of festivity to these female gymnastics, 
until the evening closed on our gaiety. 

" We remained great part of the next day at Cardamyla, in 
compliance with the wishes of our host and of his neighbours, 
and partook of the amusements on the green. After dining with 
him and his family, he attended us in his, boat, the inland road 
being scarcely passable from the stony, rugged hills that it sur- 
mounts. We viewed the situation of Leuctra, a small hamlet on 
the shore, still retaining its ancient name, but found_ there few 
and inconsiderable traces of antiquity. About two miles and a 
half from hence we came to the little creek of Platsa, shut in by 
the rock of Pephnos, near which was a tower, the residence of 
the Capitano Christeia, a chief to whom we were recommended. 

" We had sent our letters to this chief by a messenger from 
Cardamyla, in consequence of which he met us at the port on 
our landing, attended by a large train of followers. We took 
leave of our friends of Cardamyla, who paid us a compliment at 
parting, not unusual in this country, by firing all their rifles over 
our heads. As this was not very carefully or regularly perform- 
ed, and the pieces were always loaded with ball, the ceremony 
was not altogether agreeable. The tower of Capitano Chris- 
teia was at a small distance from the port, and adjoining to it 
were out-buildings and a long hall of entertainment as at Kitrees. 

" Here, according to Pausanias, was formerly the little town 
of Pephnos, the situation of which is now marked only by the 



220 MODERN GREECE. 

rocky islet of the port. The place was at that time inconsider' 
able, and the island contained nothing except two small bronze 
figures of Castor and Pollux, which were, however, miraculous- 
ly immovable, even by the winter's storm and the sea which beat 
upon them. The miracle is no longer performed, and the statues 
are gone. 

" We w^alked from the shore with our host to his castle. Capi-- 
tano Christeia, the owner of it, was one of the most powerful, 
and at the same time the most active and turbulent chieftain in 
the district. He had paid the price of the renown he had ac- 
quired, for he bore the marks of three bullets in the breast, the 
scars of two more upon his face, besides slighter wounds on his 
legs and arms : in fact, his life was a continued scene of piracy 
by sea and feuds at home. He was about forty-five years of 
age, and shewed us with much satisfaction the spoil he had 
amassed in lus expeditions. 

" In the tower to which we were shewn, we lived in a neat 
and comfortable room ; but the walls were thick and strong, the 
windows barricadoed with iron bars, and barrels of gunpowder 
were arranged along the shelves below the ceiling. The men 
who attended in the castle had an air of military service, and the 
whole place bore in its appearance the character of the master. 
We stayed a day at this singular mansion, and were prevented in 
the morning by a heavy rain from extending our rambles beyond 
the castle. We dined with the family at twelve o'clock, and 
after dinner went to the great room of the castle. In it, and 
on the green before it, we found near a hundred people of both 
sexes and of all ages assembled, and partaking of the chiefs 
hospitality. They flocked from all the neighbouring villages, and 
were dancing with great vivacity. The men, during the dance, 
repeatedly fired their pistols through the windows, as an accom- 
paniment to their wild gaiety ; and the shouts, and laughter, and 
noise were indescribable. Among the other dances, the Ariadne, 
mentioned in De Guy's Travels, was introduced, and many 
which we had not yet seen in Greece. The men and women 
danced together, which is not so usual on the continent as in the 
islands. On my complimenting the Capitano on the perform- 
ance of his lyrist, who scraped several airs on a three-stringed 
rebeck, here dignified with the name of ^vgr/, a lyre, he told me 
with regret, that he had indeed been fortunate enough to possess 
a most accomplished musician, a German, who played not only 
Greek dances, but many Italian and German songs ; but that in 
1794, his fiddler, brought up in the laxer morals of Western 
Europe, and unmindful of the rigid principles of the Maina, had 



MODERN GREECE. 221 

SO ofFended by his proposals the indignant chastity of a young 
woman in the neighbourhood, that she shot him dead on the spot 
with a pistoh As evening approached, the strangers departed to 
their homes after a rifle salute. We again passed the night at 
Christeia's house, and set out for Vitulo the next morning. 

" We left Plitsa on mules, attended by a strong escort of 
ai-med men, sentAvithus by the chief's direction. We-first pro- 
ceeded eastward, up a narrow rocky vale, and then turning to 
the south, ascended by a winding road up a high ridge of crags. 
We passed some villages with scanty spots of cultivation round 
them, and keeping high along the side of Taygetus, came in 
about two hours to the verge of Christeia's territory. Here our 
escort left us, and a guai'd belonging to one of the chiefs of Vitulo 
took charge of us, and conducted us down the southern side of 
the promontory of Platsa to their master's, which is at two 
hours' distance." 

" The whole of this tract is as barren as possible. The 
mountain of Taygetus is a continuance of naked crags ; the 
cultivation disappeared as we proceeded, and the coast which 
lay before us towards Cape Grosso, seemed more bare and savage 
than any we had passed. The villages seemed poorer, and the 
people less attentive to comforts and cleanliness, from the 
extreme poverty of the country. Still, in the scanty spots where 
vegetation could be produced at all, their industry was conspic- 
uous. Not a tree or bush is seen. We found many specimens 
of variegated marble in the mountains, and passed by some 
ancient quarries. We at last came to Vitulo, formerly CEtylos, 
a considerable town in this desolate country, built along a rocky 
precipice. Below it is a narrow, deep creek, that winds inland, 
and is the haven to the town. A mountain torrent falls into it, 
through a deep and gloomy glen that is barely wide enough to 
afford a passage for its waters. On the opposite rocks that 
boimd this glen to the south, is another village with a square 
Venetian fortress. Our guides conducted us through a street, 
filled with gazing crowds, to the house of a chief to whom we 
brought letters of recommendation. We found the master of 
the house was absent, but were hospitably received by his family, 
and remained there till the next day. 

"Li the afternoon, we examined the situation and environs of 
Vitulo for the remains of the ancient town of CEtylos. We 
found in the streets several massive foundations and large hewn 
stones still left, supporting the more slight buildings of modern 
times. We went to the church, which, in most places built on 
the situation of the old Grecian cities, contains the fragments of 



222 MODERN GREECE. 

ancient architecture. We found there a beautifully fluted Ionic 
column of white marble, supporting a beam at one end of the 
aisle. To this beam the bells were hung. Three or four Ionic 
capitals were in tlie wall of the church, employed for building it, 
together with common rough stone-work. The volutes and 
ornaments were freely and beautifully executed, and different in 
some degree from any I have elsewhere seen. The cord which 
encircles the neck of the column is continued in a sort of bow- 
knot round the scroll of the volutes at each side of the capital, 
and is very freely carved. On the outside of the church are 
seen the foundations of a temple to which these ornaments in all 
probability belonged."* 

Mr. Morritt was very desirous of pursuing his survey of the 
Maina as far southward as Cape Matapan, and of visiting the 
site of the ancient Taenarus ; but he was informed that, from 
Vitulo, the road is impassable even for mules ; and the country 
round Taenarus was in so disturbed a state, that none of the 
chiefs could undertake to conduct the travellers thither in safety. 
Of the ancient cave and temples there, he could obtain no con- 
sistent account.f Sir Wm. Gell was told, that above Cape Mat- 

* (Etylos (sometimes written Befylos, and by Ptolemy, Bitula) was, as well 
as Leuctra, in the time of Pausanias, a city of the Eleuthero-Lacones, who 
possessed, by virtue of a grant from Augustus, some of the maritime towns of 
Laconia. Of these, nine were on tlie promontoi-y of Taygetus, to the south 
and west of Gythium, which also belonged to them ; viz. three on the eastern 
side, Teuthrone, Las, and Pyrrhichus, Coenepolis at Capo Grosso, and on the 
Messenian Gulf, (Etylos, Leuctra, Thalamae, Alagonia, and Gerenia. The rest 
were beyond the Laconian Gulf on the Malean promontory. Leuctra, Car- 
damyle, and Pephnos, Mr. Morritt remarks, we are enabled by decided remains 
of antiquity or coincidence of situation, to fix at Leutro, Cardamoula, and 
Platsa. Thalamae, which Meletius erroneously fixes at Kalamata, was only 
eight stadia from (Etj'los, and must be sought for between Platsa and Vitulo. 
Gerenia, Mr. Morritt supposes to have been near Kitries. In the account of the 
villages of Maina furnished by the Bey, given in Gell's Itinerary, 
there occurs the name of Garanos " near the sea," on the shoi-e of the 
Laconian Gulf, between Vathiand Kolokythia. The latter he supposes to be 
Gythium, and the coincidence of name seems to favour the opinion ; but 
Gythium, according to Polybius, was only thirty stadia from Sparta. Above 
Kolokythia is a castle called Leucadia, and in the sea are ruins and inscrip- 
tions. Mr. Morritt was told that there are considerable remains of an ancient 
city, on Capo Grosso, agreeing, so far as the distance could be ascertained, with 
Pausanias's description of Coenepolis. At Gerenia, was the tomb of Machaon, 
the son of Esculapius, who was worshipped and had a temple dedicated to him 
at Abia. 

t " Taenarus, a city of Laconia, the harbour of which is sufficiently large 
to contain a great number of ships, is situated near a cape of the same name, 
on which is a temple, as there is on all the principal promontories of Greece. 
These sacred edifices attract the vows and ofierings of mariners. That of 
Taenarus, dedicated to Neptune, stands in the middle of a consecrated grove 
which serves as an asylum to criminals. The statue of the god is at the 
entrance ; and at the bottom opens an immense cavern greatly celebrated 



MODERN GREECE. , 223 

apan is a castle called Kisternes, from the number of cisterns it 
contains ; and at a place called Borlachias, there were said to be 
ruins of a temple of Diana and Bacchus.* The southern ex- 
tremity of the peninsula is called Kakaboulia, and the natives 
bear a very bad character, even among the Mainotes, for their 
barbarous and piratical habits. The precise limits of this district 
are not easily ascertained. M. Pouqueville says loosely, " On 
the other shore of the Bay of Vitulo is the town of Tichimova 
(Gimoba) containing about 250 houses, and commanded by 
a captain named Pietro Mavromikhalis.f Beyond this begins 
the country of the Cacovouniotes or Cacovougnis (Kakabouliots)," 
whose name, he says, signifies mountain-robbers ; and he gives 
the following account, of course from hearsay, of the district and 
the people. 

" The rugged rocks with which this region abounds, their 
summits blackened by thunder or by time, the red earth which 
appears at intervals among them, present but a fearful coup-d'oeil 
to the navigator. A few scattered habitations are seen among 
the mountains, while here and there, on the borders of some 
creek made by the sea, stands a solitary village. The principal 
of these are Kolokythia, Boularias (Bourlachias), Cariopohs, 
Mezapiotes,J and Porto Caillo,§ upon the Gulf of Laconia : the 
former of these is considered by the Cacovouniotes as their 
capital. The country is every where barren and destitute of 
wood, and depends almost entirely for a supply of the first 
necessary of life, water, upon some springs and natural cisterns 
found in their caverns. They have only one river, the Skyras, 
in the neighbourhood of Porto Caillo ; but this has water the 
whole year through. The land is not sufficiently productive to 
support the inhabitants ; and they would be constrained to aban- 
don their country, if the sea did not offer inexhaustible resources 
in their fisheries, and the rocks were not the asylum of an immense 
quantity of birds, partridges, and other game. At the times of 

among the Greeks . . . You behold, said the priest, one of the mouths of the 
infernal shades ... .It was through this gloomy cavern that Hercules dragged 
Cerberus up to light, and that Orpheus returned with his wife. ... We 
left Taenarus, after having visited in its environs some quarries from which is 
dug a black stone as valuable as marble." — Travels of Anacharsis, vol. 
iii. ch.41. 

* " Every information which T was able to obtain respecting this country," 
says M. Pouqueville, " confirmed me in the assurance that it is rich in remains 
of antiquity. It was, according to Pausanias, full of temples." 

t Mr Swan, however, makes Mavromikhalis say, that his family residence 
was at Capo Grosso, in the supposed country of the Kakabouliots. 

t In the Itinerary, Messapo castle and port. 

§ Written by Sir W. Gell, Porto Kallio, " the Port of Archilles. and Porto 
Quaglio. 



^24 MODERN GREECE. 

the equinox, before the seas are agitated by the turbulence of the 
winds, thousands of birds of passage assemble at Cape Tenarus, 
previously to taking their flight towards the country of Libya. 

" The Cacovouniotes, the wretched remains of the people of 
Nabis, whose very name denotes the estimation in which they are 
held by other nations, these pirates, few in number, but equal in 
ferocity to the Arabs of the Syrts, form a distinct society from the 
Mainotti. Bold and adventurous upon the element from which 
their chief support is drawn, they fall, equally under favour of a 
tempest or of a perfidious calm, upon all vessels who come 
within their reach, and are not of sufficient force to defend 
themselves ; a fate more terrible to them than being struck with 
lightnbg or dashed upon the rocks. Neither the fear of dan- 
ger nor of punishment can destroy in the Cacovouniotes this 
dreadful propensity to plunder ; they cannot resist, they say, the 
alluring spectacle of so many European vessels continually pass- 
ing before their eyes. 

" A Cacovouniote may be distinguished at the very first glance 
firom a Mainote. The latter is well made, has a florid com- 
plexion, and a tranquil cast of countenance : the former has a 
'dark and suspicious eye, and is squat and stunted like the plants 
of his country ; he has a withered skin and an expression of 
countenance which betrays at once the gloomy assassin. The 
tone of voice of the Mainote is full and sonorous ; that of the 
Cacovouniote is hoarse and guttural. The one walks with a 
brisk and airy step ; the other rushes forward like a wild boar. 
The Mainote attacks with fury and plunders with delight the 
Turk, whom he detests : the Cacovouniote has but one enemy, 
but that enemy is the whole human race, whom in his blind fury 
he would gladly tear to pieces and extirpate."* 

There is probably not a little of the exaggeration of romance 
in this account ; and it may be questioned, after all, whether the 
Cacovouniotes are a race more distinct from the other inhabitants 
of Maina, than the smugglers, wreckers, and fishermen of the 
southern coast of England are from the other people of Cornwall 
and Devon. 

Abandoning with reluctance the journey to Tsenarus, Mr. 

* Pouqueville's Travels by Plumptre, pp. 112 — 14. From this statement, it 
would seem that Kakaboulia lies principally on the coast of the Laconian Gulf, 
and it seems to answer to what Zanetachi-bey called " the coast of Pagania;" 
Vathi, however, which is on that coast, belongs to Maina. South of Koloky- 
thia, is a port called Porto Pagano, near, and probably formed by, the Island 
iScopes. The name of this port seems connected with that of Pagania. 



MODERN GREECE. 225 

Morritt resolved to strike across the Peninsula to Marathonisi,* 
then the residence of the Bey of Maina, and claiming on that ac- 
count to rank as the capital of the territor)^ He gives the fol- 
lowing account of his journey. 

" A very steep and rugged road descends into the little glen 
below Vitulo, and continues winding along the banks of the tor- 
rent for several miles, shut in by rocky and wooded precipices. 
Emerging from these defiles, we came to a more open and fer- 
tile tract of country, covered with groves of oak and a few scat- 
tered villages. The chief at whose house we had been at Vitu- 
lo, was in one of these, and our guards gave him notice of our 
arrival by a discharge of all their rifles. Their salute was an- 
swered from the \illage by a similar discharge, and the Capitano 
issued immediately with about sixteen armed followers, and wel- 
comed us in the plain. He then, with this additional escort, 
went forward with us to Marathonisi. We had come about t^n 
miles, and had nearly the same distance to proceed. The coun- 
try grew more open and better cultivated, as we approached the 
eastern shore of the Maina. We came in about an hour within 
sight of the sea, and then pursued our journey in a north-easterly 
direction through several villages, in one of which was a square 
Venetian fortress, until we arrived at Marathonisi. 

" This town, then the residence of the Bey, and the capital of 
the Maina, consists of little more than a single street along the 
shore, in front of which is a small road-stead, formed by the island 
of Marathonisi, the ancient Cranae of Homer. The Bey of the 
Mciina, Zanet Bey, had a large and strong castle within half a 
mile of the place, but received us at a house in the tov/n, where 
he was resident at this time, with great kindness and cordiality. 
We found he was of a character more quiet and indolent than 
many of the subordinate chiefs we had visited. This, as Chris- 
teia told us, was the reason why they had chosen him in the room 
ofZanetachi Kutuphari, the more intelligent apd enterprising 
chieftain of Kitrees. After an early dinner, he retired to his 
siesta, and we went to view the situation and ruins of the ancient 
Gythium, which stood a little to the north of the present town. 
What vestiges remain of Gythium, appeared to me to be chiefly 
of Roman construction, -and the buildings of earlier date are no 
longer traceable. The situation is now called Palseopolis, but 
no habitation is left upon it. The town has covered several low 
hills which terminate in rocks along the shore, on one of which 
we found a Greek inscription, but so defaced as to be nearly il- 

* The proper name of the town appears to be Marathona, and that of the 
island. Maratiionisi. 

29 



226 MODERN GREECK. 

legible. A salt stream that rises near the shore out of the rocksj. 
was probably the ancient fountain of ^sculapius. The temples 
and other monuments enumerated by Pausanias are now na 
more. Marble blocks and other remains of antiquity are still 
found occasionally by the peasants who cultivate the ground ; 
and the pastures in the neighbourhood are even now famous for- 
their cheeses, which were, in the time of the Spartan govern- 
ment, an article of trade much esteemed in the rest of Greece. 

" The rock near the salt-springs which I have mentioned, is 
cut smooth, and marks remain in it of beams, which, with the 
roof that they supported, have disappeared. There are two large 
tanks, lined with stuccoed brick-work, once vaulted over, and cut 
in the rocky hill, divided by cross walls into two or three sepa- 
rate reservoirs, for the supply of water. Beyond these are two 
adjoining oblong buildings of brick, with niches for urns, contain- 
ing the ashes of the dead, exactly similar to the colombaia, now 
so well known in Italy. The doors at the end of the buildings 
are their only entrances. There are also near the shore, ruins 
of baths, much like those of Thuria, but far less perfect ; on 
which, however, we found a scallop-shell ornament in stucco still 
remaining in one of the niches. There are other ruins on the 
shore, of which a part is now under water; but a floor of mo- 
saic work may be still seen. Rubbish and old walls, many of 
which are of brick, cover great part of the ancient Gythium, but 
we "sought in vain for the temples or any antiquities of value. 
The following day was spent ia examining those parts of the old 
city which we had not previously visited. The island Cranae is 
rather to the south of Gythium, and secured the port. Jx is low 
and flat, and at a distance of only a hundred yards from the shore. 
The ruined foundation of a temple supports at present a Greek 
chapel." 

Marathonisi is represented by M. Pouqueville to be the most 
important place upon the Laconian Gulf: its principal trade is in 
cotton and gall-nuts. Above it is a post named Mavrobouni.* 
At three hours from Marathonisi, in the plains on the eastern side 

* According to information received by Sir W. Gell from the natives, pro- 
ceeding' southward from Mavrobouni, it is three hours to Scutari, passing- the 
village of Capitano Antoni ; from Scutari to Vatika, three hours, passing Kas- 
tri ; from Vatika to Vathia, two hours ; thence to Kastagnia, six hours ; to 
Porto Quaglio (or Kallio), six hours ; (the port which gives name to the village 
is two hours below ;) to JaM'i, four hours ; to Pyrgi, two hours ; to Cape Ma- 
tapan, two hours. Distance from Mavrobouni to Cape Matapan, twenty-eight 
hours. This road, which lies through the interior, leaving the coast at Scu- 
tari, has never been explored by any English traveller. Jalli is only one hour 
from Capo Grosso. Kastagnia, which M. Pouqueville places erroneously to 
the east of Kardaraoula, is said to derive its name from the number of chestnut 



MODERN GREECE. 227 

of the Eurotas, is the village of Helos (corrupted into Helios,) 
the chief place in the rich but defenceless country of the ancient 
Helots. From this place it is reckoned a journey of fourteen 
hours to Mistra, the road lying along the banks of the Eurotas 
and through the country of the Bardouniots, a tribe of lawless 
Mussulman banditti. Before, however, we turn our backs upon 
Maina, we shall here tlirow together a few general remarks on 
tl:ie country and the character of the natives. 

The whole district of Maina, including Kakaboulia, is formed 
by the branches of Mount Taygetus, (now known under the 
name of Mount Saint Elias,) and, with the exception of a long 
ti'act of low coast, called by the Venetians Bassa JVLaina, is 
mountainous and for the most part barren. The mountain, fa- 
mous in all ages for its hones, is formed of a slippery rock, so 
hard as not to be broken without difficulty, and bristled with 
little points and angles on which the gentlest fall is attended with 
danger. The population is distributed into litde villages, while 
here and there, a white fortress denotes the residence of the 
chief. According to M. Pouqueville, the province contains 
about a hundred of these chorions (towns or hamlets) under four- 
teen capitanos; but this appears to be incorrect.* The Maina 
is, in fact, divided into eight hereditary captaincies, or what in 
other countries would be termed lairdships, seigniories, or sheikh- 
doms ; the government, in many respects, strikingly resembling 
the ancient feudalism of the Highland clans of Scotland. Its 
origin, as well as that of the people themselves, is problematical ; 
but the Italian title assumed by the chieftains, together with the 
style of the architecture of their castellated mansions, seems to 
point to the time of the Venetians as the era of its introduction. 
The jurisdiction, Mr. Douglas states, " was long administered 
by an assembly of the old men, from among whom the protoge- 
ronte (arch-senator) was annually chosen. The misbehaviour of 
the last person who enjoyed that situation, led to the abolition of 
his office." Since that time, Maina has been nominally govern- 
ed by a Bey, elected by the capitani from among themselves, but 
who receives his investiture from the Capitan-Pasha. In what 

trees in the environs. At this place, he adds, " the Capitan Pasha was beaten 
and put to the rout two and twenty years ago, after having driven the Alba- 
nians out of the Morea. 

* Sir W. Gell speaks of the 117 towns and villages of Maina, but cites no 
authority. Zanetachi, in 1785, stated them at about 100, and the population 
at about 40,000 ; while another capitanos more distinctly stated, that Maina 
contained 70 villages, comprising 7,000 houses, and a population of 30,000, of 
which 10,000 were male adults. — Pouqueville's Travels, p. 464. Zanetachi.. 
however, in 1795, estimated the effective male population at 12,000. 



228 MODERN GKEECE. ^ 

respect the Bey differs in office and authority from the protogC" 
route, who appears to have been the doge or captain-general of 
the little republic, does not clearly appear, and the change seems 
to have been little more than nominal. 

In the year 1776, Maina was separated from the pashalik of 
the Morea, and placed, like the Greek Islands, " under the pro- • 
tection'^ of the Capitan-Pasha. On this occasion, it seems, Za- 
netachi Kutuphari, of Kitries, was first raised to the dignity of 
hey-boiouk by a firmaunpf Gazi Hassan Pasha, which constituted 
him chief and commander of all Maina for the Porte.* He had 
npt enjoyed this post more than two years, when, having incur- 
red the displeasure of the Capitan Pasha through the intrigues of 
his drogueman, he was compelled to quit Kitries, and to take re- 
fuge in Zante. Through the intervention of the French ambas- 
sador, he obtained his pardon, and returned to Maina, where Mr. 
Morritt visited him in the spring of 1795. At that time, Zanet- 
bey, of Mavromouni in the canton of Marathonisi, enjoyed this 
invidious office, and he is stated by M. Pouqueville to have held 
it for eight years ; at the end of which he was, by rare good for- 
tune, permitted to retire quietly to his patrimony, and to end his 
days in peace as a capitanos. His successor, Panayotti Como- 
douro, of Cainbo Stavro near Varousi, after holding the office 
for three years, fell under the displeasure of the Porte, and was, 
in 1801, a prisoner at Constantinople. To him succeeded An- 
toni Coutzogligori, of Vathi, who, " at sixty years of age, impel- 
led by the thirst of dominion, solicited the dangerous post, and 
became the dependent of the Capitan Pasha." In 1805, when 
Sir Wm. Gell visited the Morea, this same Antoni or Andunah 
Bey was still in office. He was then at Kitries, to which place 
he had, it seems, repaired for the purpose of paying the annual 
tribute of 35 purses (of 500 piastres each,) equal to about 800Z., 

* A copy of this firmaun is g-iven by Pouqueville in the Appendix to his 
Travels. In this document it is intimated, that the Sultan, in issuing this fir- 
maun, had " changed his anger into compassion, his vengeance into clemen- 
cy," having pardoned all the faults of the therein-mentioned Zanetachi, therein 
and for ever. The fact appears to be, that the nomination, as Sir Wm. Gell 
intimates, was a compromise, " into which the Turks entered to save them- 
selves the trouble of an exterminating war," or the disgrace of failing in the 
attempt, " and the Greeks, for the sake of having no foreigner in the coun- 
try." The Bey was no otherwise distinguished from the other ca/)'(7aTO', than 
as their representative in all public transactions with the Turks, and the re- 
sponsible agent for the haralsch or capitation-tax. But, as all foreign com- 
merce passed through his hands, or could be carried on only with his licen.se, 
the post must have been a lucrative one. No Mainote engaged in commerce, 
and this might be one reason for their often turning pirates. The title of Bey 
seems, however, to have been borne by one of the family of Mavromikhali, be- 
fore the separation of Maina from the pashalik of Tripolitza. 



MODERN GREECE. 229 

which the Turkish squadron then in the hay had been despatch- 
ed to receive : his residence was at Marathona. This tribute, 
comparatively small as it may seem, was raised with difficulty, 
so that, if Sir William Gell may be credited, " the Bey, having 
advanced the sum to the Turks, was obliged to call in their as- 
sistance to enable him to obtain the re-payment, in consequence 
of which he vv'as considered rather too intimate with the Turks." 
His successor, Constantine >Bey, " formerly a merchant, bought 
his investiture at Constantinople, and, by the aid of an army of 
Moreote-Albanians, deposed his father-in-law, who had been 
elected to the office.* His authority, was contested, and a civil 
war was the consequence. What becanae of him, we are not 
informed, but, at the breaking out of the Revolution, the ruling 
Bey was the redoubtable Pedro-bey Mavromikhali, who has 
been so often referred to. 

The Mainotes ai'e said to boast of being descended from the 
ancient Spartans. " It is the name by which they are known 
among themselves, while the histories of Lycurgus and Leoni- 
das, partly as saints and partly as robbers, are still figured in 
their popular traditions. On the other hand," remarks Mr. 
Douglas, " the destruction in which Nabis is said to have involved 
all the Spartans, greatly diminishes the justice of this claim. 
Probably, the writers who trace this nation from the ElavOagoi 
.Jaxoiva?, or the inhabitants of the sea-towns of Laconia, who 
were separated from the dominion of Sparta by the decree of 
Augustus, may be nearest the truth. De Pauw, Pouqueville, 
and Chateaubriand are at issue upon these points ; and perhaps 
Spartans, Laconians, and Slavonians are all, more or less, con- 
founded in this singular people. "f Little stress can be laid, 
however, on either of these authorities. De Pauw's account of 
the inhabitants of Maina partakes largely of the fabulous : he 
ascribes to them the most horrid and unnatural rites, and 
an unbounded licentiousness. Chateaubriand will not al- 
low them to be Greeks at all, although their customs, as 
well as their language, preserve the most striking resem- 
blance to those of the ancient Greeks. Even Sir W. Gell 
speaks of the Mainotes as having " at least more claims to the 

* The Hon. Mr. Douglas, who visited Greece in 1811, speaking (in his Essay 
on the Modern Greeks) of Constantine as the " present" Bey, says : " Five, 
however, of the eight captains are in open rebellion against him, and the power 
of the veteran Anton (Andunah ?) is much more substantial than all the assis- 
tance the Turks can confer on the usurper." 

t Douglas on Mod. Greeks, p. 172. If there really be the marked difference 
of physiognomy and character between the Kakabouliots and the other Mai- 
notes, that M. Pouqueville represents, it will strongly favour this opinion that 
they are of a mixed race. 



230 MODERN GREECE. 

honour of Grecian descent, than the inhabitants of other parts 
of the Morea." Mr. Morritt states, that, among their chiefs, he 
found men tolerably versed in the modern Romaic literature, 
" and some who had sufficient knowledge of their ancient lan- 
guage to read Herodotus and Xenophon, and who were well ac- 
quainted with the revolutions of their country." Possibly, this 
gentleman's classic enthusiasm may have led him to overrate 
their attainments ; but his testimony as to their general charac- 
ter must be allowed to have great weight. Even their piratical 
habits seem to have descended to them from the heroes of the 
Odyssey and the early inhabitants of Greece. The robbery 
and piracy which they exercise indiscriminately in their roving 
expeditions, they dignify by the name of war. " But," remarks 
this Traveller, " if their hostility is treacherous and cruel, their 
friendship is inviolable. The stranger that is within their gates, 
is a sacred title ; and not even the Arabs are more attentive to 
the claims of hospitality. To pass by a chiefs dwelling without 
stopping to visit it, would have been deemed an insult, as the re- 
ception of strangers is a privilege highly valued. While a stran- 
ger is under their protection, his safety is their first object, as his 
suffering any injury would have been an indelible disgrace to the 
family where it happened." It would seem that the Homeric 
maxim is not yet worn out in this country — 

Tov ^uvov napeovra <pi\eiv, aittovra Se veiueeiV 

" Welcome the coming-, speed the parting guest." 

The hospitable reception which Mr. Morritt met with is the 
more remarkable, as M. Pouqueville represents them as regard- 
ing all foreigners with distrust ; and he accuses their papas, more 
■especially, of cherishing in their countrymen that ^evT^Xadia (ha- 
tred of foreigners) which he represents to be the common senti- 
ment of these modern Lacedaemonians. The Rev. Mr. Swan, ' 
who, in 1825, accompanied Capt. Hamilton in his journey to and 
from Mistra over Mount Taygetus, confirms the favourable ac- 
count given by Mr. Morritt of the state of things thirty years 
before. " Through the whole of this journey," he says, " the 
respect and attention of the Greeks were unremitting. We were 
placed in circumstances where any disposition to pilfer must have 
been successful, and where we could not have offered the least 
effectual resistance. It is true, we were furnished with the pass 
of Pietro Bey, and we were proceeding on a mission which had 
for its object the release of his son from prison, as well as that 
of a large number of Greeks. But the robber finds the oppor- 
tunity of effecting his purpose, and has no further concern. Be- 



MODERN GBEECE. 231 

fore he could be apprized of our views, explanations must be given : 
for these, the mere plunderer does not wait. He is perched like 
the eagle in his eyrie, and the talon is fixed upon its prey before 
tlie victim is aware that he is on the wing. We slept securely 
in the wildest passes ; our resting-place w^as known to hundreds 
of the mountaineers, who guarded them, and we experienced not 
the slightest alarm. We slept in houses which they occupied, 
our baggage scattered about the chamber ; we kept no watch, 
we entertained no fear, and we suffered no injury. Whenever 
we met witli them, we were welcomed with a respectful saluta- 
tion ; when we departed, it was ivith the kind expressions of all. 
One of our party, at least, who had been carried away with the 
wretched cant of the utter worthlessness of the Greeks, became 
a convert. He plainly saw that they were not so bad as they 
might have been. They did not take advantage of our situation ; 
they neither robbed nor insulted us."* 

The religion of the Mainotes is that of the Greek chm-ch in 
its most fantastic and barbarous forms. Christianity made no 
progress among them till many centuries after the conversion of 
Constantine ;f and its precepts are now but little known or re- 
garded. Their churches, Mr. Morritt states, are numerous, 
clean, and well attended ; and their priests have an amazing in- 
fluence, J which is too seldom exerted to soften or reclaim them. 
" The papas of Maina," M. Pouqueville says, " aro the least in- 
structed of any of the Greek priests. After the example of the 
major part of their brethren, they allege the dearness of books 
and the difficulty of procuring them, as reasons for excusing 
themselves from saying the breviary. Not less determined 
plunderers than the rest of the Mainotes, they share in all their 
expeditions, that they may be sharers likewise in the booty." A 
Mainote priest, to whom the Hon. Mr. Douglas complained of the 
robberies charged upon his countrymen, replied that it could not 
be helped ; " that it was a custom handed down to them by their 
ancestors in the vofioc rov JvKovg/ov (the laws of Lycurgus.)"<| 

* Swan's Journal, vol. ii. p. 258. 

t " Though not to be conquered by human eflforts," says Pouqueville, " they 
submitted to the Christian religion at the epoch when Basil the Macedonian 
swayed the sceptre of the East." 

t In this respect, the Mainotes would seem strikingly to differ from the Su- 
liots and Roumeliots, who are said to pay little deference to their clergy. See 
p. 43. 

§ A more plausible apology for his lawless countrymen was offered by Zane- 
tachi-bey in a letter given by Pouqueville, written from Zante in 1785. " I 
can assure you that the character of the Mainotes is that of all people who are 
not properly enlightened upon subjects of commerce. Deprived of the arts 
and coHveniences of lifcj interest, or often urgent necessity, leads them to sect 



232 MODEKN GREECE. 

With such teachers and guides, it is not to be wondered at, that 
the religion of the Mainotes should differ little from that which 
once prevailed among the rude clans of the Scottish border, or 
front that of their Pagan ancestors. Their fondness for amulets 
and charms, and their faith in their efficacy, are the natural 
effect of superstition, and are not, perhaps, carried to a greater 
height than among the rest of their nation. 

A more pleasing feature in their character, is that domestic 
virtue which is on all hands admitted to mark the intercourse of 
the sexes. " Their wives and daughters," says Mr. Morritt, 
" unlike those of most other districts in the Levant, are neither 
secluded, corrupted, nor enslaved. Women succeed, in default 
of male issue, to the possessions of their fathers ; they partake 
at home of the confidence of their husbands, and superintend 
the education of their children and the manasement of their 
families. In the villages, they share in the labours of'* domestic 
life, and in war, even partake of the dangers of the field. In 
no other country are they more at liberty, and in none were 
there fewer instances of its abuse, than in Maina at this period. 
Conjugal infidelity was extremely rare, and indeed, as death was 
sure to follow detection, and might even follow suspicion, it was 
not likely to have made much progress." 

" Amid the sort of barbarism in which the Mainotti are 
plunged," remarks M. Pouqueville, " one is forced to admire the 
practice of certain virtues that are conspicuous among them. 
Their old men are held in the highest respect : their counsels 
are considered as oracles. Never do the women or young men 
approach them but with marks of the most profound veneration.* 

The wives of the Mainotti, not less courageous than their 

husbands, sometimes share with them the greatest dangers ; if 
they fall, their loss is deeply lamented by these women, for they 
love their husbands with extreme tenderness. The Mainote 
women are models as mothers, after having been so as daugh- 

illicit means of compensating' the want of conveniences, of wealth, or even of 
necessaries. A Mainote who has wherewithal to satisfy his wants, never seeks 
fortune by illicit means." — Travels, p. 470. " The number of their desert ha- 
vens," remarks the Hon. Mr. Douglas, " has always encouraged the crime of 
piracy among the Greeks. But the cruelty shewn in exercising it is much exag- 
gerated to strangers by the trembling merchants of Scio and Scalanova." 

* Sir Wm. Gell is ingenious enough to pervert this reverence for the hoary 
head iato the matter of splenetic ridicule. His testimony to the fact is not the 
less important. " In almost every Greek expedition, on foot, on horseback, or 
in a boat, this most awkward veneration for hoary locks yet exists, as in the his- 
tory of ancient Sparta.. . .A Greek boat has always some old, obstinate, and 
ignorant monster on board," &.c. Strange, that a learned antiquary shouM 
deem either old age, or the reverence for it monstrous ! 



MODERN GREECE, 233 

ters." " Under such a government," remarks the Hon. Mr. 
Douglas, " we are not surprised to find a race of bold and licen- 
tious robbers ; yet, seclusion from the contagious effects of neigh- 
bourhood, has preserved among these lawless men the virtues of 
constancy, fidelity and truth. A traveller is immediately struck 
with the peculiar manliness of their look and carriage ; and I 
have seen the proudest Turks sink into the most abject servility, 
on discovering that the Greek whom they had insulted was a 
Mainote." 

The climate in the northern and higher parts of Maina is es- 
teemed very salubrious : as the mountains decline in elevation 
towards Cape Matapan, the country is less healthy, and the in- 
habitants are not equally robust. The produce of the soil con- 
sists of oil, silk, vallony and gall-nuts, honey, wax, cotton, and 
Vermillion.* Maina contains six good ports, viz. Kitries, Vitulo, 
Porto Kallio, Vathi, Marathonisi, and Trinisa. Porto Kallio, 
which seems to answer to the ancient Pyrrhicus, is the port op- 
posite to the north-western point of the island of Cerigo', the an- 
cient Cythera, and the most southerly of the seven Ionian Islands. 
Of tills once celebrated isle, we must give a brief description. 

CERIGO 

According to M. de Vaudoncourt, is situated five miles S. 
of the island of Ser\'i, and 14 E.S.E. of Cape Malio. It is 17 
miles long from N.W. to S.E., 10 miles wide, and about 45 in 
circumference. The most northern point is Cape Spati (an- 
ciently Platanistus), on the extremity of which stands a chapel, 
occupying, probably, tlie site of an ancient fane. " To the S. 
W., opposite to another point, is a rock known by the name of 
Platanos. Three miles to the S. is a small port, near which is 
the church of S. Nicholas de Mudari. Four miles farther south- 
ward is Cape Liado, opposite to which are three small islands, 
called Deer Islands (Elaphonisia). From thence to Cape Tro- 
chilo, one of the southern points of the island, the distance is six 
miles S.E. The other southern point. Cape Kapello, is four 

**■ According to Zanetachi-bey, the productions of Maina, in a good year, 
were about 13,000 barrels of oil ; 16,000 lbs. of silk ; and of vallony and gall- 
nuts about 1,500,000 okes each. (PouquEViLLE, p. 467.) In a Table of the 
Territorial Productions, given by the same writer, however, those of Maina, 
from Cape Matapan to Kitries, are estimated at 8000 barrels of oil, at 520 pias- 
tres the ban-el ; 6000 kilos of pulse, at two piastres each ; 4000 okes of ver- 
million, at eight piastres each ; 4000 okes of silk ; 6000 quintals of vallony ; 
and 2000 okts of yellow wax : total value, 272,0{)0 piastres. The annual tri- 
bute, according to Sir Wm. Gell, was fixed at 17,500 piastres, being about 
15 1-2 percent. 

30 



234 MODERN GREECE. 

miles E. of Cape Trochilo ; and between these two points, a 
small harbour opens (Porto Delphino), at the bottom of which^ 
on the declivity of a mountain, is the small town of Kapsali, 
containing about 4000 souls, which has succeeded to the ancient 
Cythera. The fort is to the S.W. on the sea-shore, and at the 
mouth of a torrent. Four miles N. of Kapsali, and near the 
sources of this torrent, is the village of Potamos, the ancient 
Scandea.* Between this village and Kapsali, we discover the 
ruins of the temple of Venus Cytherea. Beyond Cape KapeUo, 
the coast stretches to the N. for about five miles, and then bend- 
ing to the E. for about two miles, forms a kind of harbour, 
called Port St. Nicholas or Avlemona. To the N. of this har- 
bour, near an inlet, is a fort, called Palaio-Kastro, which occu- 
pies the site of the ancient Menelais. From Point Avlemona, 
the coast irregularly ranges to the N.W. as far as Cape Spati, 
and is steep and rugged. The island is barren and little cul- 
tivated, and is in want of wood as well as of all kinds of provi- 
sions."! 

" Though celebrated as the ancient Cythera and the birthplace 
of Hellen, its present aspect," says Dr. Holland, " is rocky and 
sterile, and the number of inhabitants (in 1811) does not exceed 
9000 : of tliis number, 165 are priests, and there are said to be 
not fewer than 260 churches or chapels of different descriptions 
in the island. The chief products are corn, oil, wine, raisins, 
honey, and wax ; some cotton and flax also are grown upon the 
island, and there is a considerable produce of cheese from the 
milk of the goats which feed over its rocky surface. J It is esti- 

*This seems to be an error, as Scandea was. the port of Cjthera. 

f Vaudoncourt's Ionian Islands, p. 403. 

i " The name of Cythera had awakened in our minds the most pleasur- 
able ideas. In that island has subsisted from time immemorial the most 
ancient and most venerated of all the temples dedicated to Venus. There it 
was that she for the first time shewed herself to mortals, and, accompanied by 
the Loves, took possession of that land, still embellished by the flowers which 
hastened to disclose themselves at her presence. Ah ! doubtless, in that fortu- 
nate region, the inhabitants pass their days in plenty and in pleasure. The 
captain, who heard us with the greatest surprise, said to us coldly : ' They eat 
figs and toasted cheese; they have also wine and honey; but they obtain 
nothing from the earth without the sweat of their brow, for it is a dry and rocky 
soil. Besides, they are so fond of money, that they are very little acquainted 
with the tender smile. I have seen their old temple, formerly built by the 
Phenicians in honour of Venus Urania. Her statue is not very suitable to 
inspire love, as she appears in complete armour. I have been told, as well as 
you, that the goddess, when she arose out of the sea, landed on this island ; 
but I was likewise told, that she soon fled from it into Cyprus.' From these 
last words we concluded, that the Phenicians, having traversed the seas, 
landed at the port of Scandea ; that they brought thither the worship of VenuS; 
which soon extended into the neighbouring countries ; and that hence origins- 



MODERN GREECE. 235 

mated that, in the year 1811, there were In the island, 16,000 
sheep and goats, albout 1300 horses, and 2500 oxen. The 
number of bee-hives, the same year, was reckoned at 1,280, 
pioducing honey of very good quality."* 

Some writers have described Cerigo as a volcanic country, 
containing many extinct craters ; a statement which this writer 
considers as very questionable, but which claims the attention of 
fiiture travellers. The rock is Kmestone, and, as in the Morea, 
is worn into large caves, some of which are reported to exhibit 
very beautiful stalactitic appearances. This island sends one 
deputy to the legislative assembly of the Ionian Isles. Instead 
of a Lacedemonian, Roman, or Venetian, it has now a British 
garrison ; and from their solitary station, the mountains of Pel- 
oponnesus are seen on one side, while on the other, though at a 
greater distance, may be described the classic shores of the 
ancient Crete. 

FROM MARATHONA TO MISTRA. 

We must now transport the reader back to the mouth of the 
Ere Potamo or Eurotas, at the head of the Laconian Gulf, 
wliich seems to be the eastern boundary of the coast of Maina. 
The port of Trinisi (Trinesus) is between the mouth of that river 
and IVIarathonisi, and takes its name from three islands. Here 
the Mainotes have two small castles. The river flows through 
marshes, bounded eastw^ard by the rich and fertile plain of Helos, 
over which lies the road to Mistra. Mr. Monntt, who took tliis 
route in 1795, having passed the night at a village called Prinico, 
near the mouth of the river, proceeded next day across the 
plain to Helos. f " Soon after," he continues, "we came to the 
Eurotas, and continued along its banks through a beautiful and 
varied vale, in some parts so narrow as to resemble a defile, at 
others wide and fertile, abounding in woods and varied scenery, 
but every where rude and uncultivated, except a few fields imme- 
diately near the villages, where a scanty and negligent culture ill 
provided for the wants of the inhabitants. The villages were 
the habitations of Albanese peasants, and were dangerous to the 

ted those absurd fables concerning the birth of Venus, her rising- out of the sea, 
and her arrival at Cythera." Travels of Anacharsis, vol. iii. chap. 41. 

* Holland's Travels, 8vo. vol. i. p. 61. 

t From Marathonisi to Helos, three hours. From Helos to Mistra, fourteen 
hours. Gell's Itinerary, p. 234. Mr. Swan, however, states, that, from the 
plain of Helos to Mistra, includiug a slight deviation from the road, the dis- 
tance is only ten hours. 



236 MODERN GREECE. 

trav'eller, as every crime was easy, and the people were in the 
habit of marauding with impunity. The plain and mountains 
were infested alternately by the roving Mainotes, and the Turkish 
or Albanese borderers." Though conducted by the artifices of 
their Albanian guides, by a circuitous route, in order to per- 
suade them that Mistra was more distant than it was in fact, Mr. 
Morritt and his friend continued their journey till they arrived 
there in safety. 

The tract of country bordering on the vale of the Eurotas, 
between Marathona and Mistra, is the district of Bardounia, then 
inhabited by a colony of Albanian Moslems, resembling the 
Mainotes in their warlike and predatory habits, but reported to 
be far more lawless and inhospitable. The capital of this dis- 
trict is Potamia, so named from its river, about four miles from 
Helos. Five miles from Mistra, on a projecting branch of 
Mount Taygetus, is another of their villages, called Dakne (writ- 
ten by Sir William Gell, Daphne,) which had been set on fire 
by Ibrahim Pasha, and was still burning when Captain Hamilton 
passed it in his way to the Egyptian camp. On the plain of 
Helos, half a dozen villages were smoking, and the conflagration 
had been spread in every direction. It was here that the inter- 
view took place between the English Commodore and the Egyp- 
tian Pasha, which has been referred to in our historical sketch.* 
The object which had led Ibrahim into this quarter, was, to gain 
possession of the two castles at Trinisi. " When we reached 
the main camp," writes Mr. Swan, " which might be four miles 
from the place qf action, such a scene of confusion displayed 
itself as I had never before witnessed. Miserable-looking beings 
were everywhere stretched upon the ground, oppressed by ex- 
treme fatigue, while the whole character of what passed, remind- 
ed me of nothing so much as the turbulence, without the merri- 
ment, of an English fair. There was but one tent in the plain, 
and thus, their ragged, wretched bodies were exposed to the 
burning heats of noon, except where olive-trees supplied a shade ; 
but the greater part of the array were entirely deprived of such 
protection. The most fortunate had stationed themselves on 
the banks of a beautiful stream, which was full of excellent water, 
and as clear as crystal, broad, but shallow."! That stream was 
the Eurotas. 

* See page 255. Ibrahim was then retreating to Kalamata from Mistra. 

t Swan's Journal, vol. ii. p. 236. Ibrahim Pasha declared that, "for that 
time, he spared the territory of the Bey of Maina, out of compliment to the 
English." He was in fact intriguing to gain over Pedro-Bey. 



MODERN GREECE. 237 



FROM LEONDARI TO MISTRA. 

Sir Wm. Gell and Mr. Dodwell, whom we must now follow 
in exploring the antiquities of Laconia, reached Mistra by way of 
Leondari. Tliis is a large village situated on a rising ground at 
tlie southern extremity of the plain of Megalopolis, and was at 
that time inhabited by both Greeks and Turks. Though de- 
serted and ruinous, it presented the most picturesque groupes of 
buildings and trees ; and in and about the village are ancient ves- 
tiges which have been supposed to mark the site of Leuktron, 
tlie border town of the Spartans and Megalopolitans.* The 
mountain to which it gives name, is in fact the northern point of 
that range of which Mount Taygetus is the nucleus, and which 
ends at Cape Matapan. Here, consequently, the roads divide 
to Mistra eastward and to Kalamata on the west. The castle of 
Leondari stands on one of its lowest rocks, yet is sufficiently ele- 
vated above the plain to command a very extensive and interest- 
ing prospect, described by Sir William Gell in very glowing 
terms. " The variety of arable and pasture land, richly inter- 
spersed with villages and the country-houses of Turkish Agas, is 
encircled with vast forests and open groves of oak ; and these 
are surrounded again with the most picturesque and magnificent 
mountains, full of natural beauties, and exciting a cloud of class- 
ical recollections, unrivalled, except in the vicinity of Athens. In 
front, on the west, lay Mounts Cerausius and Lycasus, where 
Jupiter was nursed, and Pan was revered. On the summit, hu- 
man sacrifices are said to have been offered at a period beyond 
the reach of history. There, the Lycsean games, the temple of 
the great goddess, the Archaic Lycosura on its lofty peak, the 
feast of Lycaon, the flaming valley of the gods and giants, and a 
thousand other circumstances, rush upon the mind. Below, 
Megalopolis, founded in vain by Epaminondas to check the pow- 
er of the Spartans, Philopoemen, the Alpheus, are recalled to the 
senses or to the imagination. The hope, almost amounting to 
certainty, that, by looking for any object which once existed, its 
vestiges would surely be found on some now lonely eminence, 
on some rock, or near that fountain in the forest which induced 
the founders to settle on that particular spot, the name of Arca- 

* Leondari (more frequently written by the Greeks Lontare) is mentioned 
as a large town by a writer in the fifteenth century. The origin of the namCj 
which signifies lion, is unknown. Some have supposed the castle to mark the 
site of Belemina (Bleniaa or Blemmina,) which others fix at a place called Agia 
Eirene, where are some interesting remains. 



238 MODERN GREECE. 

dia, and its connexion with all that history has related or poets 
have sung, conspire to render the view from the castle of Leon- 
dari one of the most interesting and enchanting of the Pelopon- 
nesus. 

" Nothing can exceed," continues the learned Traveller, " the 
beauty and variety of the glens and eminences which alternately 
presented themselves on our route : the prettiest valleys, each 
watered by its litrie rivulet, and reminding us perpetually of the 
parks and pleasure-grounds, which in England are often contriv- 
ed by art and study, are here produced in endless succession by 
unaided nature. All the streams flow ultimately into the Al- 
pheus, having first joined the main river of the valley formed by 
the mountain of Leondari and Mount Chimparou. After a gra- 
dual ascent for an hour, and passing the village of Liniatero on 
the left, we reached the highest part orheadofthe valley whence 
the currents flow to the Alpheus ; and at this elevation, the cold 
was considerably increased. Perhaps this spot was the confine 
of the Laconian and Arcadian territories ; at least, it seems the 
natural boundary ; and in Greece, the form of the mountain ge- 
nerally decided the extent of the province. There had been a 
town, either ancient or modern, on the platform or crest, as was 
proved by the fragments of tiles and pottery on the ground. 

" The mountain of Leondari, almost ceasing on the right, is, 
after a narrow valley, replaced by another branch of the mass, 
called Cherasia, the source of many torrents, which accompanied 
or crossed the track by which we now descended towards Mistra 
and the Eurotas. Here and there we observed vestiges of the 
ancient road, and of walls, which had once served to retard the 
predatory excursions of the rival countries. Still descending for 
another hour, in a beautiful forest, we passed the ruins of a church, 
vineyards, and habitations of a modern village, now no longer in- 
habited. A church, with vestiges of antiquity near it, might per- 
haps be taken for the site of an ancient temple ; and after a ride 
of two hours and twenty minutes from Leondari, we saw some 
vestiges of antiquity upon a knoll projecting from Mount Che- 
rasia, and near it, on the right, the site of two temples in a field. 

" All this valley is copiously irrigated by rivulets, which pro- 
duce a most delightful shade, by encouraging the growth of mag- 
nificent plane-trees, some of which we observed from six to seven 
feet in diameter. Soon after, we passed a beautiful fountain and 
a ruined church, the substitute for the temple which once had 
adorned it ; but these were only the appendages of a city, the 
walls of which we not long after entered, and which stood upon 
the sides and base of a pointed and conical hill, called Chelmo 



MODERN GREECE. 239 

or Chelmina. If I had not promised to avoid all antiquarian dis- 
cussion, I might, perhaps be inclined to suggest, that possibly 
Belmina stood here, and that Chelmina might be the remains of 
the name. The hill of Chelmo, though not high, is so situated 
in the centre of the valley, that it is seen both from Sparta and 
Megalopolis. The fields, on quitting these vestiges, seemed to 
assume a new aspect, and to be better cultivated ; we found also 
vineyards ; and descending to the bottom of a valley, between 
die end of Mount Chimparou on the left, and Xerro Bouno, a 
name now assumed by the range on the right, we found in a little 
triangular meadow, watered by a brook, a large green tumulus, 
probably the burying-place of some one hero, or the common se- 
pulchre of many, probably not difficult to be recognised in the 
page of history. A road here turns off on the left to Tripolitza, 
falling into the valley of Franco-brysso, Asea, or Anemoduri, 
which occurs in the route from Leoadari. 

" On the side of the Xerro Bouno, or the Dry Mountain, we 
observed the large village of Longanico, and crossed the river of 
the same name, at its junction with another stream, near the 
foundations of a temple. 

" On an ugly ascent from this spot, we found a derveni, or 
guard-house, to protect the road ; but, as we had not met a 
single person during the whole journey, we could not help re- 
marking the wretched prospect which the plunderer of travellers 
must hold out to those who were to gain a support from such a 
precarious source. 

" At the top of this ascent, we found a large fiat table-land, 
spotted with heaps of stone and stunted wild pear-trees, where 
we thought we observed the vestiges of a city. Our guides 
called it Agrapulo Campo, which might be either a corruption 
fi'om wild pear-trees, or the acropolis of an ancient city. On 
the descent ii'om this, is the source which might have occasioned 
the selection of the spot for habitation. It is now known by no 
distinguishing appellation ; for that of Cephalo-brysso, which 
it bears, is common to any other natural fountain. Here, 
however, we found the foundations of a temple and other frag- 
ments of white marble, and were soon convinced that it was the 
real fountain of the Eurotas in the valley of Sparta, whether it 
derived or not its original source from the same mountain with 
the Alpheus, and sunk in the lake below Anemodouri. The 
city was probably that called Pellane. The water is clear and 
excellent, and gushes out of the rock in a considerable stream. 
A khan now in ruins, has once existed near the spot, founded by 
some pious Turk, who probably left no money to support it, or 



240 MODERN GREECfc. 

did not foresee that no khangi could be found to remain in it in 
times of turbulence, or the prevalence of banditti. A little be- 
low the source, the stream joins a river called Platanata, and 
then assumes the classic name of Ere or Eurotas. After pass- 
ing two little villages on the left, Partali and Trupes, we came 
to a fountain with a shade of poplars, now in early leaf; and on 
the right, after passing the foundations of walls, we observed the 
ruins of a citadel, rising in terraces that forcibly recalled to our 
recollections, the town of Characomas, or the Bastions, the ruins 
which were to be expected in this district. Here we found 
another khan, which was at that moment tenanted ; but it being 
only two o'clock, the evening fine, and the place not offering any 
particular object of curiosity, while we were impatient to arrive 
at Sparta, we proceeded on our journey, which we had on that 
day commenced at nine. On the hill, about a mile on the right, 
is the large village of Periboglia, a name implying a wall or 
periholus, and from that circumstance now used more than %ri7io? 
for a garden. Possibly, it might originally have some connec- 
tion with the neighbouring ruins of Characomae. 

" We had not proceeded far, when, on crossing a river, we 
observed the foundations of a temple on the right, and, in the 
same direction, the villages of Alevrou and Alitea, The traces 
of the ancient inhabitants seemed now to multiply, and the coun- 
try to become at the present day more populous. The river 
which rolled on our left, now entered among the little hills, 
which seemed to impede its further passage. On the left, we 
saw the village Chorithitza, and a white house called Lai, a name 
which had a sort of Lacedaemonian sound. A peasant passed 
us, and offered for sale a large brass medal of Sparta, with the 
club of Hercules on the reverse ; but, as he had formed too 
magnificent an idea of his good fortune in finding it, and asked 
something quite preposterous, we were obliged to relinquish the 
purchase, and he to postpone sine die the days of his promised 
affluence. 

" Another great stream from the right adds very much to the 
volume of the waters of the Ere ; and whatever may be the 
merits of the original Cephalo-brysso in the summer, most cer- 
tainly it was entitled, at the time we saw it, to very little honour 
as the main support of the Eurotas. The glen was now confin- 
ed to the breadth of the road and the river. Across the flood 
we observed, on two conical rocks, the churches of St. Georgios 
and St. Nicola ; and, not long after, passed a place, where all 
further progress had been once prohibited by an ancient fortifica- 
tion at a narrow pass, between the rocks and the river. We 



MODERN GREECE. 241 

passed several islands in the Eurotas ; and before the pass open- 
ed into a wider valley, we crossed the ruins of two walls, which 
shewed, that though the Spartans were so loud in the boast, that 
their city of Lacedfenion was defended without walls, they had 
taken very good care to render it on every side difficult of ac- 
cess by distant fortifications. 

" In many places we found the road supported by ancient 
walls of massive blocks ; and nothing could surpass the beauty 
of die tall oleanders, called by the Greeks rhododaphne, or rose- 
laurel, and which may possibly be the Laconian roses, which 
flower twice in the year. We crossed, by a bridge, another 
river firom the right, and saw a cave with steps cut in the rock, 
near which we found an inscription much defaced. We found 
other traces of walls of defence, and near the river, two tumuli, 
one of stones, and the other apparently natural. Here we 
discovered the little village of Papiote, where we arrived after 
a ride of seven hours and a half from Leondari."* 

From Papiote, a road turns off on the left to the ruins of 
Sparta, while that to the right leads to Mistra, striking into a lit- 
tle range of hills, and leaving the Eurotas on the left. In a val- 
ley on the right, Sir William Gell noticed a ruined aqueduct 
and a church, and soon after, passed " an aqueduct of the lower 
ages, consisting of a lofty pier, and two smaller, with an arch." 
Mount Taygetus here begins to assume a more imposing aspect, 
" rising in bolder masses to a far greater elevation than the sur- 
rounding branches, and then producing a forest of pines, above 
which are seen the peaks of St. Elias covered with snow. On 
passing the hills, Mistrk presents itself in all its magnificence, so 
well displayed on the sides of its lofty rock, that every house is 
visible, rising in gradation one above the other, to the grey tow- 
ers of the citadel on its summit. The city looks more like the 
capital of a kingdom, than of the deserted vales of Laconia. 
The Benaky houses, on a nearer approach, form the most con- 
spicuous portions of the ruins above ; and the mosques, with the 
dwellings of the rich Turks, beautifully interspersed with trees, 
add much, by the contrast of their white slender minarets with 
the dark cypresses, to the picturesque effect below. I know of 
nothing," adds Sir William, " that exceeds the first sight of 
Mistra, though a nearer approach destroys the illusion of mag- 
nificence which it has excited. We soon crossed a large stream, 

* Narrative, pp. 314 — 23. In the Itinerary, from Lontari to the Khan of 
Perivolia, 4 h, 57 min. ; from Perivolia to Papiote, 2 h. 37 min.'; from Papiote 
to Mistra, 1 h. 14 min. Total distance from Lontari to Mistra, eight hours 
and three-quarters. 

31 



242 MODERN GKEECli. 

before which, on the left, were the ruins of a temple, and, not 
long after, another river, both rising in Taygetus ; (one of them 
running from Trupae, a village famous for a cypress-tree of enor- 
mous magnitude ;) and a few minutes more brought us to the 
lower houses of Mistra."* 



MISTRA. 

The origin of this place is unknown. There is no reason for 
supposing it of ancient date, although, as Mr. Dodwell remarks, 
" it may appear surprising that so strong and advantageous a sit- 
uation should have been neglected by the Spartans. It must be 
recollected, however, that, in early times, even their capital was 
unprotected by walls : they despised all defence except that 

* Mr. Dodwell appears to have followed a somewhat different route, having 
proceeded from Leontari to Agie Basile, a large village which Sir William Gell 
left on the right. " It occupies the upper part of a hill called Longaniko, 
which unites the chain of Taygeton and Lycseon. The spot is picturesque, 
and ample forests furnish it with verdure and shade. It overlooks a fine plain, 
or rather a deep hollow, bounded by rugged mountains, and beautifully varied 
with soft hills and green vales." The village of Longaniko, which Sir William 
Gell, in his Itinerary, places on a hill to the right of his road, Mr. Dodwell saw 
in a valley to the left. At the distance of an hour and a half from Lonfrari, 
this Traveller traversed an ancient site, marked by foundations of walls and 
ancient bricks, which it took him twenty-five minutes to pass over. Having 
passed the night at Agie Basile, the next day, in forty-five minutes, he crossed 
three streams, which turn some small mills; and in an hour and thirty-five 
minutes, came to " a fine kephalobruii, or spring, rushing copiously from the 
ground, and immediately accumulating into a rapid current in the direction of 
Sparta. This is one of the sources of the Eurotas. The spot has been much 
ornamented, and several large blocks of stone and foundations arc seen scat- 
tered about, which perhaps mark the site of the city of Pellana, as the fountain 
is the Pallanis." Crossing the stream, Mr. Dodwell proceeded on its western 
side, through a grove of mulberry trees, which abound in the Spartan plain, 
and leaving the village of Trupe at a short distance on the left, in three quar- 
ters of an hour crossed six rivulets, all descending from Taygetus : the last, 
which is of considerable size, has its source near the village of Kastania, and 
is called Kastanias Potamos. They ail enter the Eurotas, after a short and 
rapid course. That river which flowed to the traveller's left, has its left bank 
supported by a strong ancient wall of considerable length, composed of well- 
joined irregular polygons. After crossing two other streams, which enter the 
river, Mr. Dodwell chme to some sepulchral caverns, near which he found an 
ancient inscription ; and not far from this spot are two round hills, in the form 
of tumuli, but apparently too large to be artificial. Forty minutes from this 
place, he crossed a stream, and came to the ruins of an aqueduct, formed of 
arches, and binlt of Roman brick. The view of these remains, with Taygetus 
in the back-ground, is pronounced to be one of the grandest and most pictur- 
esque in Greece. A short way from the aqueduct, he crossed a rivulet ; in 
forty-six minutes further, a river, supposed to be the Taison ; and in twenty 
minutes more, reached Mistra, distant six hours from Agie Basile. — Dodwelc, 
vol. ii pp. 398 — 400. Sir W. Gell, in his Itinerary, makes Mistra only five 
hours from where he saw " Agios Basili on a high part of Mount Cherasia." 



MODERN GREECE. 243 

which arose from the terror of tlieir name and the^valour of tlieir 
arms, and disdained to be indebted for their security to strong 
walls and artificial ramparts. It is probable that Misithra arose 
out of the ruins of Sparta, which appear to have been abandoned 
by the unwordiy descendants of the Heraclidffi about the time of 
the Turkish invasion, when they sought, in the rocks and preci- 
pices of Taygeton, that protection which they could not find in 
the low hills and gentle eminences of the Spartan plain. 

" Misithra was regarded as one of the strongest places of the 
Peninsula in the lower ages. The despots of the Morea made 
it their principal residence ; and the despots Thomas and De- 
metrius, brothers of the last Constantine, took refuge in this 
sti'ong hold, when the Morea was ravaged by the troops of Mo- 
hamed II. It was occupied for some time by the Venetians, and 
finally retaken by the Turks. It is at present (1806) governed by 
a voivode, and contains nearly 7,000 inhabitants, who are princi- 
pally Greeks, and carry on a considerable commerce in silk. Se- 
veral ancient inscriptions and some sculptured and architectural 
fragments may be seen at Misithra, wliich have no doubt been 
brought from Sparta or Amyklai. The sculpture is generally 
indifferent ; but, near the southern extremity of the town, is a 
marble sarcophagus, now serving as the receptacle of a fountain, 
which is ornamented with sculpture in a good style, but much de- 
faced by constant friction."* 

The best account of Mistra is that which is given by M. Pou- 
queville, who was there in 1798 : it conveys no very high idea of 
the Laconian capital. f " Mistra rises in an amphitheatre upon 
a mountain which faces the east. Exposed thus to the rays of 
the sun, the heat in summer, not being tempered by the north 
wind, is insupportable. It is commanded to the west by Mount 
Taygetus, whence, in the great heats, snow is brought to cool 
the sherbert and other liquors. The castle stands on the sum- 
mit of the mountain of Mistra, on a platform of about 500 fath- , 
oms in circumference. It is governed by a sardar or command- 
ant, who has under his ^command some cannoniers. The artil- 
lery by which it is defended, consists of about a dozen pieces of 
cannon, every one of a different calibre. The magazines, if 
such a name may be given to two or three cellars and half a 

* DodweH, vol. ii. p. 401. The population must be under-rated at 7,000 
souLs, and M. Pouqueville's estimate is supported by Sir William Gell. 

t " It is not very obvious," remarks M. Pouqueville, " whence this nanje is 
derived. M. Scrofani tells us that it means soft cheese, which is as good an 
etymology as if one were to derive Neufch^tel from the cheeses of that name. 
Tliat of Sparta, Sirapnor, describes extremely well the nature of the grouqd on 
which it stands, covered with broom." 



244 MODERN GREECE. 

dozen sheds, have no powder but what the Bey delivers outj 
and which he purchases in the neighbouring maritime towns for 
the celebration of the ba'iram and the courhan bairam, and for 
firing upon some extraordinary occasions. There are no maga- 
zines of corn ; funds are wanting to incur an expense of any mag- 
nitude ; and I believe that, since the expulsion of the Russians 
about thirty years ago, this citadel has not been considered as of 
any importance. The Russians themselves, at the time that 
they gained possession of Mistra, did not appear to concern them- 
selves much about the citadel. It cannot, indeed, be of any 
other importance than as it gives the power to overawe the town 
in case a disposition to revolt should appear there. A mosque, 
some cisterns of marble, and some wretched habitations, built 
with the spoils of antiquity, compose the tout ensemble of this 
citadel. The form of tihe enclosure is an octagon : it is surround- 
ed with a regular crenated wall, the parapet of which is tolera- 
bly broad, but very much in ruins ; for the ravages made by time 
are never repaired, and the Turks themselves have ceased to 
consider the fortress as impregnable. 

" In descending from the castle, the eye embraces without 
difficulty the whole extent of Mistra. The town is surrounded 
with walls in a very ruinous state, in which are two gates, where 
a toll is required of all who enter the town : one is to the north, 
and leads to the castle ; the other is to the east. Two princi- 
pal streets divide the town, crossing each other almost at right 
angles. The most considerable, in which are some antique re- 
mains, is the street of the market.*. ...Near the mosque, (built of 
the ruins of the Aphelion,) is a spacious khan, frequented by a 
great number of merchants. The metropolitan church of the 
Christians, ruined by the Albanians, but since restored, merits 
notice. A metropolitan archbishop officiates there, who is poor 
as the pastors of the primitive church. The place stands record- 
ed to have been the theatre of the most extraordinary miracles, 
and the sick are daily brought and laid at the doors, as at the 
gates of the ancient temples, that those who repair thither for the 
purpose of worshipping the deity, may indicate to them the re- 
medies by which their health may be restored. f To the south 
is the Pandanesi, not less devastated by the horrors of the last 

* Called by the half-learned natives, Apheieus, from the erroneous notion 
that Mistra occupies the site of Sparta. Its being the residence of the bishop 
of Sparta may have given rise to the mistake. 

t By this circumlocutory phrase, M. Pouqueville means, that the papas pre^ 
scribe for them, or undertake their miraculous cure. 



MODERN GREECE. 245 

war. The nuns who had a convent there, were massacred by 
the Albanians, and the Pandanesi is now only a Greek church. 

" The streets of Mistra are narrow, dirty, and very uneven. 
The houses, surrounded with cypresses, plane-trees, and orange 
trees, have a pleasing and picturesque appearance. The gay 
colours with which the Moslems paint their houses, the brown 
and sombre hue of those that belong to the Greeks, the domes, 
tlie temples, the mosques, — all announce that we are in a foreign 
country ; and when the eye is cast towards the Eurotas, one re- 
flects with astonishment that this country is Lacedaemon. 

" On quitting the walled enclosure properly called Mistra, we 
arrive at Mesochorion (the middle village,) which is to the south, 
inclining to the east. Thirty years ago, this suburb contained 
3,000 houses, and, though this number is much diminished, it 
still occupies a considerable space ; but the houses are scattered 
about and mmgled with trees and gardens. They form some 
streets, however, which extend to the bank of the Eurotas. 
But we no longer visit this spot, to admire the churches of Peri- 
leptos and Agia Paraskevi : they would ill repay the curiosity of 
the traveller since they were plundered by the Albanians. In 
this second town, there are bazars and immense conaks. The 
air appears better than in Mistra. 

" To go from Mesochorion to Exochorion (the outer village — ■ 
called also Maratche and Evreo-castron,) the Eurotas must be 
crossed. The river here is about twenty fathoms wide, and an 
old stone bridge of six arches connects the one suburb with the 
other. Exochorion may be considered as a third town : it is 
principally inhabited by people of that nation which are to be 
found everywhere, and everywhere are strangers. One might 
believe one's self suddenly transported into the fields of Idumea,^ 
on seeing the multitude of Jews by whom this place is peopled. 
We hear another language ; we see a totally different cast and 
expression of countenance, different manners and customs, and 
a different mode of worship. These Jews, being divided into 
two classes, the orthodox and the heretics, aiford the Turks a 
constant pretence for the exercise of impositions and exactions. 
The sects will not intermarry, nor form connexions with each 
other in any way. Nay, their burying-places are separate, their 
mutual hatred being carried even to the grave.* There is no- 
thing in Exochorion particularly worthy of remark. 

" The ruins of the temple of Venus Armea are half a league 

* M. Pouqueville must mean the Talmudist and Karaite Jews ; but it is not a 
little remarkable, if true, that any of the latter sect should have settled at 
Mistra. 



246 MODERN GREECE. 

from the fountain called Dorcea by the natives, in going west* 
ward from Exochorion towards Taygetus The river is bor- 
dered by delightful meadows. One sees the Platanistas and 
the Dromos (or circus ;) and there still remain by the river side, 
the marbles with rings in them, to which the galleys were fasten- 
ed that used to come up to Sparta at certain times in the year. 
The Platanistas is still planted in the centre with plane-trees ; 
on its borders are weeping-willows and eytisuses, hanging over 
and reflected in the water, while scattered tufts of rose-trees, 
laurels, and silk-trees, charm the eye and perfume the air. Hi- 
ther the townspeople come to smoke their pipes, to drink coffee, 
or to resign themselves to pleasing meditations. From this is- 
land the eye wanders over Taygetus, with its snowy summits 
glittering in the bright rays of the sun. Here it was that, ac- 
cording to Theocritus, the flowers were gathered with which 
Helen was crowned on the day of her marriage ; and hither, in 
the early part of spring, the daughters of Sparta repair in 
crowds, and adorning their heads with garlands join in the festive 
dance.* 

" The men are tall in stature, their features masculine and 
regular. They are the only Greeks of the Morea who look up 
to the Turks with an eye of manly confidence as feeling them- 
selves their equals. Why am I obliged to add, that they have 
an innate inclination to rapine, which, joined to a sort of natural 
ferocity, renders them extremely vindictive and dangerous *? 
Even the Turks of Mistra, who are born of Spartan women, are 
more intrepid than other Mussulmans ; there is not the same 
apathy and taciturnity which form the distinguishing characteris- 
tics of their nation. Less zealous observers of the precepts of 
the Koran, they drink wine publicly, and swear, like the Greeks, 
by the Virgin and Jesus Christ. The common language of Mis- 
tra is that of the other Moreotes : the Mussulman inhabitants of 
this town speak it in preference to the Turkish, or, if they speak 
the latter, it is with the Greek accent. The Jews among them 
commonly make use of the Portuguese tongue. The Turks 
rank them very much below the Greeks, teazing and vexing 
them in various ways, and treating them with the utmost con- 

* We have not thought it worth while to insert the writer's very poetical eu- 
logy on the flaxen hair, large blue eyes, pride, modesty and majesty, lustrous 
charms, enchanting attitudes, and thrilling tones of the Spartan ladies, the 
"rivals of Diana." De Pauw, as determined a fxiarcWriv as Sir William Gell de- 
scribes the Laconian Greeks as the impure remains of a parcel of wretches 
who have escaped punishment ; an imputation on M. Pouqueville's " Dorian 
Spartans," which he resents with warmth ; and their panegyrist has certainly 
the advantage of their calumniator. 



MODERN GREECE. 247 

lempt ; tliey are, liowever, forced to make use of them, and fin- 
ish by being their dupes, as ilie Jews are always the agents for 
commerce and exchange, and tlie interpreters of the country. 
The population of JMistra is not so much diminished as that of 
some otlier parts of Peloponnesus, since the town is supposed 
still to contain fiom 15,000 to 18,000 souls : of these, a third 
are Mussulmans, and about an eighth Jews."* 

The town. Sir W. Gell says, is divided by the natives into 
five parts; the Kastro, Meso Chorio, Kato Ciiorio, Tritsella, 
and Parorea. The castle is situated on a magnificent detached 
rock, on the south side of which, in a tremendous chasm, flows 
the river Pantalimona. It is a Venetian fort, occupying, proba- 
bly, the site of the ancient acropolis, and is now in ruins. The 
surrounding country is luxuriant to a high degree. The plain, 
when Sir William Gell travelled, was well wooded and cultivated. 
Olives and fig-trees were abundant, and the high lanes were 
bordered with vineyards, where the grapes hung in beautiful 
clusters. The ravine next to the castle has a paved causeway 
up to the mountains, of extreme beauty, lined with fruit-trees 
and other trees. The opening upon the plain, which affords a 
glimpse of the town and the distant mountains, is uncommonly 
grand. On the lofty conical rock upon which the Venetian for- 
tress stands, are the remains of an old town, built, apparently, 
when the place was in the possession of the Republic. The 
architecture, ]\Ir. Swan describes to be a mixture of Saxon 
and Gothic. 

This last-mentioned Traveller reached Mistra from Tripolitza, 
having followed the track of Ibrahim Pasha, who was retreating 
towards the coast in September 1825. He thus describes the 
appearance which the country at that time presented. " On 
reaching Bruliah, a point of our descent towards Mistra, the 
whole range of Taygetus, now called Pendedactylon-f (five fin- 
gers), whose summits we had perceived for some time, opened 

* Travels, pp. 87—93. 

t Taygetus is designated by this name, n.evTeSaKTv\os, by Constantino Por- 
phyrogenetos, on account of its five principal summits. Its outline, particu- 
larly as seen from the north, is of a more serrated form than the other Grecian 
mountains. It runs nearly north and south, its western side rising from the 
Messenian Gulf, and its eastern foot bounding the level plain of Amyklai, from 
which it rises abruptly. This adds considerably to its apparent height, but it 
is probably inferior, Mr. Dodwell remarks, only to Pindus, Cyllene, and Olym- 
pus. It is visible from Zante, distant, in a straight line, at least eighty-four 
miles. The northern crevices are covered witli snow during the whole year, 
and the vicinity is in winter extremely cold. In summer, it reflects a power- 
ful heat upon the Spartan plain, and, by intercepting the salubrious western 
winds, renders it one of the hottest places in Greece, subjecting the inhabitants 
to fevers. — Dodwei.l, vol. ii. p. 410. 



248 MODERN GREECE. 

upon us with surprising magnificence. A deep ravine close by, 
lined with olive-trees, led to an opposite mountain, on wljich, 
immediately after our appearance, we heard signal guns fired, 
one by one, along the whole line of the station. Twenty or 
thirty Greeks presently surrounded us, who skipped like goats 
over the rocks. After chattering at a great rate for some time, 
hearing and imparting news, and examining the pass of Pietro- 
bey, they permitted us to proceed, saluting us with the mountain 
farewell, '^aXd. 

" From this place we observed Mistra, and saw with regret 
that the town was smoking in a variety of places. The way 
conducted us through many beautiful valleys, ornamented, as 
well as the higher regions, with olive-trees. Lanes of the lau- 
rel-rose were intermingled with a multiplicity of flowering 
shrubs,* and watered by fine streams. We presently crossed 
the celebrated Eurotas, Badili Hozafiog (the king of rivers), f 
once covered with swans, and worshipped by the Spartans as a 
god,— ^now shallow, muddy, and neglected. The late rains had 
caused it to swell, and it ran at this time very rapidly. An hour 
and a half's ride from Mistra, and on the right of Sparta, we 
passed the brick pier of a double arch, formerly an aqueduct. 
In the same line, wc also distinguished a ruined gateway. Sparta 
is close by. We observed on our left the walls of an acropolis, 
or of a temple, dedicated, possibly, to Jupiter Acreus. As we 
drew near to Mistra, fire broke from the houses, but not a soul 
was visible. A few Greeks, attracted by the hope of collecting 
what had not yet perished, appeared afterwards. We entered 
the town, and beheld the flames all around us ; household utensils 
were broken and scattered in all directions ; — nothing, in short, 
could equal the desolation, or the interest which it excited. In 
one place, a cat remained the only inhabitant ; in another, a dog 
barked at us as we passed. The Greeks before mentioned con- 
ducted us to a house yet untouched, although surrounded with 

'•* Beyond Mistra, Mr. Swan describes the road as lying through groves of 
olive and mulberry-trees at the foot of Taygetus ; and " after a while, the 
country assumed the appearance of nicely arranged shrubberies, all the plants 
usually seen in English pleasure-grounds, being found indigenous here." 

t " According to Plutarch, the first name of the Eurotas was Marathon" 
(the name still preserved in the town on the Laconian Gulf) .; " it then took 
the name of Himeros, from a son ofLacedsemon and the nymph Tayg«»ta, who 
drowned himself in it. It afterwards assumed the name of the Spartan Euro- 
tas, who also perished in its stream. But Pausanias asserts, that it received its 
name from Eurotas, because be made a canal which conducted its waters to 
the sea. It was also called Basilopotamos, which name it retains to the pre- 
sent day, though its most common name is Iri (Ere or Eres.)" — Dodwell, 
vol. ii. p. 409. ^ 



MODERN GREECE. 249 

flames. Here we slept, expecting, indeed, to be aroused in the 
night 5 but the escape was so easy, that we had no apprehension 
of the consequence. Ibrahim left Mistra in the state 1 have de- 
scribed only tliis morning (the 14th.) He is gone forward burn- 
ing and destroying : we shall follow, and be eye-witnesses of the 
devastations he has caused."* 



SPARTA. 

The ruins of Sparta are about three-quarters of an hour from 
Mistra, the way leading across the plain in an easterly direction. 
After crossing the river from Trupee, in half an hour the travel- 
ler reaches the hamlet of Magoula,f where there is a bridge over 
the rapid stream, supposed to be the Tiason. Here he reaches 
the first remains of the Lacedemonian capital, consisting of un- 
certain traces and heaps of large stones tossed about in promis- 
cuous wreck : the spot is now called Palaio-Kastro. In ten 
minutes from Magoula, he arrives at the remains of a magnifi- 
cent theatre, apparently of Roman construction. The koilon or 
pit is excavated in the hiU, which rose nearly in the middle of the 
city, and which served as an acropolis. The walls of the pro- 
sceniumi are principally of brick, and the white marble, of which 
Pausanius says it was composed, has disappeared. Near the 
theatre are the remains of a Roman brick tower, which Mr. 
Dodwell was assured by his Greek cicerone, was the pyrgos of 
Menelaus !j 

Sparta, however, can boast of scarcely any thing that can 
with certainty be cited as a remnant of the real city of Lycurgus. 
A fine sepulchral chamber of a square form, regularly construct- 
ed with large blocks, is found nearly opposite the theatre, at a 
short distance from it : it has been opened, and the interior is 

* Swan, vol. ii. p. 231. — Three days after, they again passed through the 
town on their return from the Egyptian camp. On the way, between three 
and four miles S. E. of Mistra, they found, on the summit of a small hill, a 
church, of which the Turks had consumed all that they could. The door-posta 
were formed of ancient inscriptions still legible, which Mr. Swan commends 
to the attention of future travellers. 

+ By Sir W. Gell written Maoulia and Magoulia, and calculated to be 28 
miu. from Mistra : 17 min. further, are an aqueduct and ruins ; and in seven 
minutes more a Doric metope, and the city of Sparta is entered by an ascent. 

X A traveller, Mr. Dodwell remarks, must not expect to derive any correct 
information respecting the antiquities of the country from the generality of 
Greek natives. The individual referred to was a wealthy and hospitable ar- 
chonof Mistra, who, to evince the lively interest he felt in the history of his 
Spartan ancestors, had named one of his sons Lycurgus, and the other Leoni- 
das, while he taught them the Hellenic language. His name was Demetrius 
Manusaki. 

32 



250 « MODERN GREECE. 

composed of brick-work. This may possibly be one of the mo- 
numents of the Spartan kings Pausanias and Leonidas, which, 
according to Pausanias, were opposite the theatre. Many other 
detached ruins are dispersed in this direction, some of \ which 
are evidently Roman. They appear to have suffered more from 
sudden violence than from gradual decay, and have, no doubt, 
been torn to pieces, to supply materials for the modern town of 
Mistra. Several imperfect inscriptions have been found among 
the ruins, and many others, Mr. Dodweil says, might yet be dis- 
covered, notwithstanding the infamous labours of the Abbe Four- 
mont, who gloried in having exterminated every relic of Sparta.* 
The idiotic vanity of this Gallic Alaric has led him to exaggerate 

* The Abbe Fourmont travelled in Greece, by command of Louis XV., in 
the year 1729. On his return to France, he produced a vast mass of in- 
scriptions ; (he savs he copied 1,500, — iOO at Sparta alone;) many of these 
are authentic, and have smce been copied in Greece, and published by Dr. 
Chandler and other travellers But with regard to the most curious and 
most questionable part of his collection, his inscriptions of Sparta and 
Amyklii, he boasts, in a letter to the Count de Maurepas, of having de- 
stroyed the inscriptions, that they might not be copied by any future tra- 
veller. Mr. Dodweil has cited several passages from his original letters, 
in which he glories in his real or pretended dilapidations. " Sparle est la 
cinquihme ville de Moree que j'ai renversie ; Hermione et Tresent ont subi le 
mime sort — -jen'ai pas pardonnd a Argos, a, Phhasia," fyc. " Je suis aduetle- 
ment occupe a deiruire jusqu' ii la pierre fondamentale du temple d''JlpnUon 
Jlmydeen," <^c. " Depuis plus de Irente jours, trente, et quelques fois quarante 
ou soixante ouvriers, abaltent, ditruisent, exterminent la ville de Sparte," ^c. 
" Je n'ai plus que quatre tours a demolir." That he obliterated many in- 
scriptions is pretty certain. After Mr. Dodweil had copied some at Sparta, 
he observed Manusaki turning them over and concealing them under stones 
and bushes ; and the reason he assigned for this precaution, was, that 
many years ago, a French milordos who visited Sparta, after copying a 
great number, had the letters chiselled out and defaced. He actually point- 
ed out some fine slabs of marble from which the inscriptions had evident- 
ly, been thus barbarously erased. The Abbe's principal object is supposed 
to have been, to acquire the power of blending forgery and truth without 
detection, and his fear of competition was subordinate to that of being 
convicted of palaeographical imposture. Sir Wm. Gell, however, has tri- 
umphantly proved the falsehood of sonve of Fourmont's statements, while Mr. 
R. P. Knight had already exposed the suspicious character of some of his pre- 
tended inscriptions. The story is in the highest degree incredible, that, in a 
country governed by the jealous Turks, and watched by the still more envious 
Greeks, M Fourmont really went about tearing down marbles and overturn- 
ing cities unobserved or unpunished. And the fact is, that in the neighbour- 
hood of Amyclffi, Sir W. Gell found a great many inscriptions, which exhibit 
no signs of any extraordinary ill-treatment. Among others, the Abbe disco- 
vered, at Amyclse, two marbles of an era so remote, that human sacrifices were 
represented, the feet of the victims bein^ already cut off. " These broken 
marbles," says Sir William, " I saw at Amyclas quite perfect. The human 
feet, proofs of primeval barbarism, have long been recognised as the slippers of 
the priestess, with her other trinkets and ornaments." Yet, this mendacious 
^bbe has found vindicators in his learned countrymen, MM. Raoul Rochette 
and Louis Petit Radel ! — See Gell's Narrative, pp. 339 — 347. Dodwell's 
Travels, vol. ii. pp. 405 — 8. 



MODERN GREECE. * 251 

the extent of the mischief he achieved ; and tl)e fact is, that the 
proximity of JNJistia and its numerous population, together with 
the eftect of earthquakes,* will sufficiently account for the few 
vestiges which are left of the Laceden:onian capital. The hill 
which rises from the theatre, and which, apparently, is not more 
than sixty feet abov'e the level of the plain, has been surrounded 
with walls, which appear to have been constructed in haste, 
being composed of fragments of columns and inscribed marbles, 
small stones, bricks, and mortar. f A minute description of the 
principal remains is furnished by Sir W. Gell. 

" The theatre, which we visited first is partly scooped out of 
the little hill, which may in after times have formed a sort of cit- 
adel, and partly erected of stone, projecting at each side from 
the eminence. If it be very ancient, which I much doubt, it has 
been restored at a late period ; but it must have been intended 
for the amusement of a very great population, as the radius of 
the orchestra is 70 feet, and the diameter of the whole is 418. 
The scene seems to have been only 28 feet deep, and the seats 
were divided into three cinctions, of which the breadths ascending 
were 20 feet for the lowest, 23 feet for the next, and 40 for the 
highest. Above this was a space only 1 3 feet wide, and behind 
that, the last, which might have been a portico, was 32 feet deep. 
The uppec surface of each seat was divided into two portions,, 
of which a sinking, one foot four inches in breadth, received the 
feet of the person who occupied the seat above, and a space only 
one foot one inch in width was left for the seat of the person be- 
low. About twenty yards to the northward is an opening in a 
wall, which may have been the entrance to the upper seats. The 
whole is a strange mixture of good and bad workmanship. 
Stretching to the southward from the theatre is a long wall, not 
exhibiting the appearance of very remote antiquity : it has at 
some period served as a defence to that part of Lacedeemon 
which might be called the citadel, and is connected with the 
theatre. In this wall, which is about a stadium in length, and 
may possibly have formed part of one, though we found the 

* " Laconia was very subject to earthquakes ; and Strabo mentions a tra- 
ditionary report, that one of the summits of Taygeton had been precipitated 
into the plain. We know from Diodorus, Plutarch, Pliny, and others, that, in 
the reign of Archidamos, the whole of Sparta was destroyed by an earthquake, 
except five houses. According to Strabo, the KeaSai were fissures in the moun- 
tains, formed by earthquakes ; and to the same cause we may ascribe the 
baralhron upon Taygeton, down wbicli, according to Plutarch, deformed chil- 
dren were precipitated." — Dodwell, vol. ii. p. -(10. 

t Sparta was originally without walls, and Lycurgus prohibited their erec- 
tion ; but it was surrounded with walls by the tyrants, and strongly fortified by 
Nabis. These wails, however, must have been of modern date. 



262 MODERN GREECE. 

pipes of a bath, we observed an inscription, perhaps a dedication 
of some temple to Apollo, by the emperor Julian. The mat- 
ble on which this is cut is white, and is formed for the pediment 
of a small edifice. There were upon it the marks of a pick- 
axe, very recently made, as if with the design of effacing the 
letters, though without effect : whether this was done by some 
traveller, whose jealousy found gratification in preventing his suc- 
cessors from copying it, or by some native who wished to appro- 
priate the slab to another use, I could not determine. In either 
case, the failure was equal, for the inscription, which was only a 
fragment, remained legible, and the marble was still in the wall 
of which it formed a part. 

" There is scarcely any thing else at all curious on this eleva^ 
tion, except the remains of what I have no doubt was a small 
temple, or other very ancient edifice, the plan of which might 
yet be ascertained. It consists at present of two doors, distant 
about forty six feet six inches from each other. We found a 
piece of mutilated, but beautiful sculpture, in pure white marble, 
on the spot. I imagine the doors, the architraves of which yet 
remain, and consist of large single blocks of marble, were the 
opposite doors of a cell ; and that the columns, or at least the 
plan of the whole, might be ascertained by excavation. The 
architraves are seven feet eight inches long, two feet deep, and 
three wide ; the doors are four feet eight inches wide ; and on 
the east side of the edifice, there is a flight of steps, or the seats 
of a theatre, of ancient workmanship, which rise from the doors 
to the distance of forty-eight feet. There seems no reason to 
imagine this a staircase, except that the doors are now filled up 
almost to the architraves, which proves that the pavement is at a 
very considerable distance below the present soil. It might be a 
school, and on these steps persons might have been disposed as 
in a theatre. At all events, this is almost the only relic bf 
ancient Sparta ; and it appears as if it would afford a variety of 
curious information, and possibly inscriptions or sculptures, to 
any one who should undertake the excavation of it, when such 
a work shall become again feasible. The hill of the theatre, 
being the highest, has been esteemed the citadel of Sparta : the 
still higher elevation on the north does not seem certainly to have 
been included in the city. It would appear, that, at some period 
the theatre itself has, with its immediate vicinity, served as a spe- 
cies of castle. 

" Considering the northern groupe of elevations as one hill, 
Sparta may be considered as having stood upon four insulated 
eminences, lying along the right or western bank of the Eurotas, 



MODERN GREECE. 253 

a river running on the eastern verge of a plain bounded on that 
side by a chain of red liills, anciently called Menelaion, and on 
tlie west by the mighty Taygetus, from the foot of which, at 
Mistra, the theatre is about 4000 yards distant. Between this 
main hill and the next, towards the south, a road must always 
have passed to die Eurotas, which is there separated into two 
streams, by an island covered with oleanders. The descent 
from the eminences to the river lies between two ranges of rocks, 
about twenty feet high, and about forty yards asunder. Tliis 
glen has been fortified at some period or other, or very much 
filled up widi buildings which answered the same purpose ; and 
fi'om the river, which is 380 steps further eastward, I remarked 
how Lacedaemon was enabled to boast that she had no need of 
walls, by being situated on a chain of eminences, which would, 
in those days, have been rendered impregnable by the contiguity 
of the habitations alone, and the long chain of rocks, which 
at once rendered unnecessary 880 yards of wall, from the 
hill of the citadel to the southern elevation. There was 
a bridge over the Eurotas, but of what age I could not de- 
termine. I passed the stream without difficulty, in March, on 
horseback. The river Tchelephina falls in a little above the 
ruins."* 

Little addition, in fact, Mr. Dodwell remarks, can be made to 
the brief but accurate description of the ancient city given by 
Polybius. He says : " It is of a circular form, forty-eight stadia 
in circumference, situated in a plain, but containing some rough 
places and eminences. The Eurotas flows to the east, and the 
copiousness of its waters renders it too deep to be forded during 
the greater part of the year. The hills on which the Menelaion 
is situated, are on the south-east of the city, on the opposite side 
of the river. They are rugged, difficult of ascent, of consid- 
erable height, and throw their shadows over the space which is 
between the city and the Eurotas. The river flows close to the 
foot of the liills, which are not above a stadium and a half from 
the city."f 

* According to the Abbe Barthelemy, around the hill on which stood the ac- 
ropolis, with a temple of Minerva and sacred grove, were ranged _^«e towns 
or distinct suburbs, separated from each other by intervals of diffei-ent extent, 
and each occupied by one of the five tribes of Sparta ; viz. 1. tiiat of the 
LimatcE (from Xj/^v??, a lake or marsh, which formerly occupied the ground to 
the northward of Sparta) ; 2. that of the CynosurKons (supposed to take its 
name from a branch or spur of Taygetus, resembling the tail of a dog) ; 3. 
that of the Pitanatce, whose hamlet extended in front of and included the 
theatre ; 4. that of the Messoatx, near the Platanistas ; and 5. that of the 
JEgid(t, between Messoaand Limne. — See Travels of Anachar sis, -voX, iii. ch. 
41, and note 27. 

tB. V. p.399. See Dodwell. 



254 MODERN GREECE. 

The Menelaion hills, which bound the eastern side of the 
plain, are not, however, Mr. Dodwell says, so high as would ap- 
pear from this description : " their sides are steep, furrowed and 
shattered by earthquakes, but they are mere hillocks when com- 
pared with Taygetus. Their summit forms a flat and extensive 
surface. From the western side of the plain rise the grand and 
abrupt precipices of Taygetus, which is broken into many sum- 
mits. The bases also of the mountain are formed by several 
projections distinct from each other, which branch into the plain, 
and hence produce that rich assemblage and luxuriant multipli- 
city of lines, and tints, and shades which render it the finest lo- 
cality in Greece." " All the plains and mountains that 1 have 
seen," adds Mr. Dodwell, " are surpassed, in the variety of 
their combinations and the beauty of tJieir appearance, by the 
plain of Lacedaemon and Mount Taygeton. The landscape may 
be exceeded in the dimensions of its objects, but what can ex- 
ceed it in beauty of form and richness of colouring *?" 

About two hours to the south of Mistra is the village of Scia- 
vo-Chorio, which occupies the site of the ancient Amyclse. The 
road runs in a southern direction along the foot of the mountain, 
leaving the site of Sparta on the left, to the large village of Pa- 
rora, which joins the suburbs of Mistra. Here, some of the 
finest precipices of Taygetus rise in fantastic forms, from glens 
covered with wood and irrigated with numerous streams. In an 
hour and forty minutes, the traveller reaches the pretty village of 
Agiani, ornamented with a beautiful mosque and fine orange- 
groves, and watered by a- fine stream, called Kephalo-hrysso. 
Sir William Gell explored the source, and found there a beauti- 
ful fragment of sculpture, representing a stag and hounds, and, in 
a village near it, a large marble, sculptured with a well-preserved 
relievo of the battle of the Amazons. He supposes that a tem- 
ple of Diana may have stood here. In ten minutes from Agiani, 
he came to the Greek village and church of Agiani Cheranio, 
and not long after, crossed the little river of Tsoka, descending 
from a village of the same name in the mountain. Ten minutes 
further, is another kephalo-brysso, or spring-head, with a mill, 
and the village of Godena is seen on the left.* In less than a 

* There is a strange discrepancy here, between Sir W. Gell 's Narrative and 
his Itinerary. In the latter, the supposed site of the temple of Diana with an 
Ionic capital of white mai'ble, a stag and hounds well sculptured, a statue, and 
some architectural fragments, is placed at the source of the second kephalo- 
brysso, to the right of Godena, written Kodina ; not at that of the stream of 
Agiani. The site of the temple is moreover stated to be occupied by a church. 
In the Itinerary, the distance from Mistra to Sclavo-Chorio, is stated to be 
only one hour, forty-five minutes ; in the Narrative, two hours, twenty-three 
minutes. 



MODERN GREECE. 255 

quarter of an hour beyond this, the traveller reaches Sclavo- 
Chorio, — " a straggling hamlet, like all the others in the plain of 
Mistra, with houses, towers, and gardens of oranges and cy- 
presses." This place exhibits " a moi'e confused wreck of ruins 
than even the Spartan capital. Accumulations of stone, broken 
inscriptions, imperfect traces and foundations, that are almost 
covered with bushes, mark the site of the place which was cele- 
brated for the birtli of Castor and Pollux and for the death of 
Hyacinthus." 

Amyclas was an episcopal city, and a place of some impor- 
tance in the lower ages, as is testified by the number of ruined 
churches scattered over the surface. It still retains its nominal 
dignity, and the bishop of Lacedsemon and Amy else resides at 
Mistra. -The place was known by its present name, however, 
as early as the year 1447 : from what circumstance it arose, does 
not appear, but it would seem to imply the settlement of some 
Slavonian emigrants in this neighbourhood. The KaOoXixor, or 
cathedral, is described by Mr. Dodwell as " almost destroyed;" 
Sir W. Gell mentions a church which contained a portion of an 
Ionic cornice, the pillar which sustained a table for offerings, a 
small Ionic and two Doric capitals, a granite column, a headless 
dog in marble, and an inscribed fragment, with the word Amy- 
clae still legible. The former Traveller speaks also of the re- 
mains of a large temple, " perhaps that of Apollo, composed of 
large slabs of variegated marble, near which are some imperfect 
bas-reliefs in a bad style." Polybius speaks of the temple as 
magnificent, and the colossal statue and throne of the Arayclsean 
Apollo were among the wonders of Greece. Above these ruins 
rises one of the detached hills of Taygetus, upon the summit of 
which are the remains of a fortress ; perhaps, the site of an an- 
cient acropolis. Not far from its base, Mr. Dodwell was in- 
formed, there is an entrance to a subterranean aperture, of artifi- 
cial formation, possibly an ancient quarry. Strabo informs us, 
that the rich marbles of this mountain were excavated by the 
Romans. Both here and at Sparta, are many fragments of ser- 
pentine of a green colour, and some with a purple hue ; evi- 
dently, fi'om their number and size, the production of some spot 
in the vicinity. The principal colour is a dark green, with 
spots of red and white, resembling, Mr. Dodwell says, the spe- 
cies called by the Italians JJffricano, but inferior in quality to that 
which is seen at Rome. 

According to Plutarch, the ancient name of Taygetus was 
Araykleos ; or rather, perhaps, this was one of the names 



256 MODERN GREECE. 

under which different parts were known. The summit, ac-» 
cording to Pausanias, was named Taleton, and was sacred to 
the sun, to whom horses and other victims were sacrificed on 
the spot now occupied by the church of Saint Elias — a corrup- 
tion, probably, of Hlios. The country round Amy else abounds 
with olives, mulberry-trees, and all the fruit-irees of Greece ; it 
was anciently reckoned the most fertile part of Laconia.* 

" The mountaineers of Laconia," Mr. Dodwell says, " the 
Tzakoniotes, are the finest people in Greece. Robust, warlike, 
and hospitable, they retain more of their ancient customs, lan- 
guage, and liberty, than the inhabitants of any other part of the 
Peninsula. They are the remains of the Eleuthero-Laconic 
confederation which was rendered independent of Sparta by 
Augustus. They name their country Tzakonia, an evident 
corruption of Laconi. It would seem that this Traveller is 
spealang of the Mainotes under this general appellation. Zako- 
nia is now generally understood to be the term applied to the 
country eastward of the Eurotas, stretching along the western 
shores of the Argolio Gulf, and terminating in the Maliac pro- 
montory. Of this district little is known, as it does not appear 
to have been visited by any English traveller. Here, however, 
at the distance of fourteen hours from Mistra, is the important 
maritime town of Monembasia, commonly called Napoli di Mal- 
vasia, which gives name to the excellent wine called Malmsey. 
We must have recourse to M. Pouqueville for an imperfect de- 
scription of this part of the country.. 

" The distance of Monembasia from Mistra is two long days' 
journey, which may be estimated at twenty-four leagues. The 
road lies almost entirely among mountains, on which are large 
forests of fir, with a great deal of brushwood and heath. There 
are also some ponds and woods, but the principal features of the 

* " Proceeding from Amyclse toward the Eurotas, at the distance of about 
two miles, is a church on an eminence, called Agio Kuriaki, from which there 
is a fine view of the course of the Eurotas, near the banks of which Mr. Gro- 
pius discovered a curious circular edifice resembling the treasury at Mycenae. 
Potamia and Daphne are seen to the south." — Gell's Itinerary, p. 225. The 
church is probably that to which IVIr. Swan refers. The circular edifice ap- 
pears to be what is thus described by Mr. Dodwell : " On quitting the ruins of 
Amyldai, we left the moimtain on the right, and proceeding about an hour to 
the S.E., came to a small hill or tumulus near the village of Baphio. The side 
of the hill has been excavated, and a gate discovered, similar to the entrances of 
the treasuries of Mycenae, but of smaller dimensions. It is impossible to pene- 
trate the building, as it is filled with earth and stones, the roof having appa- 
rently fallen in. There is every reason to suppose that it is a circular building, 
resembling those of Mycenae. This ruin is not generally known. — DodwelLj 
vol. ii. p. 415. 



MODERN GREECE. 257 

whole country are large rocks of granite. The place of rest for 
the night is at Zizima, the inhabitants of which always come out 
to meet travellers, in hopes of getting something from them. 
There are commonly some of them posted on the look-out for 
persons who approach the village ; and when they see any one 
coming, they hail him by blowing a large shell, in order to adver- 
tise liim that a village is to be found among the rocks. On quit- 
ting Zizima, we traverse a fine valley intersected by a river, in 
which there is some appearance of cultivation. Four leagues 
further to the east, after passing some high mountains, whence 
the sea is to be seen, we come to a large village of Albanian 
shepherds, standing on the left bank of a river vi^hich flows to- 
wai-d the south. All this tract of country deserves to be visited 
by a geologist, who would find here granites and lava, as in the 
vicinity of a volcano ; but little would be found to gratify the an- 
tiquary, and the botanist would discover only a few plants in a 
stony and arid soil. The productions of nature are not more 
worthy of admiration as we approach Monembasia : the town 
may be said to be cased up in the mountains by which it is 
bounded on the west. I know not how its wines have obtained 
their high reputation, as I am informed by M. Roussel, the 
French commercial agent in the town, that they are in reality of 
a very middling quality. 

" Nauplia di Malvasia, or Monembasia, as it is called by the 
Turks, is built from the ruins of the ancient Epidaurus Limera,* 
upon a little island. It is the seat of a bey, the residence of an 
archbishop, and contains a population of nearly 2000 inhabitants^ 
Turks and Greeks. Its port is little frequented at present, be- 
cause it is not considered as very secure ; yet, it still maintains 
some commercial relations with Nauplia di Romania, twenty-six 
leagues further to the north. A chapel dedicated to St. George 
has inherited in part the reputation of the ancient temple of Es- 
culapius : it. is much visited by the people around, who carry 
with them colyva, (a sort of boiled wheat,) cakes, and wax ta- 
pers, as presents to an old papas who is chaplain there. "f 

* Pausanias states, that the Laconian Epidaurus was a colony from the 
mother town of the same name in the Gulf of Argos, where stood the more fa- 
mous temple of Esctilapius. M. Pouqueville calls the island on which Monem- 
basia is built, Minoa; but according to Pausanias, his Translator remarks, Mi- 
noa appears to have been the cape by which the bay is closed to the N.E. : the 
island is on the south-western side, and is connected with the continent by a 
wooden bridge of twelve arches. Epidaurus stood on or near the promontory 
of Minoa, 

t Pouqueville's Travels, pp. 95 — 7. 

33 



258 MODERN GREECE. 

Having now completed our periplus of the Arcadian, Messe- 
nian, and Laconian coasts, we must take leave for a while of the 
Grecian highlands, with all the picturesque remains and heroic 
recollections which give them pre-eminent interest, and proceed 
to visit the remains of the Turkish capital of the Morea, where 
other ruins will present themselves than those which charm the 
imagination of the poet, or fascinate the antiquary. We must 
then, after visiting some other interesting sites in Arcadia, ex- 
plore the Argolic peninsula and the shores of the Corinthian Gulf, 
terminating our survey with a notice of the coast of Elis, whicja 
forms the north-western angle of the Peninsula. 



TRIPOLITZA. 

The plain of Tripolitza is the Yorkshire of Peninsular Greece. 
In travelling from Kalamata to the capital, in the month of March, 
Sir Wm. Geil says, " we had left Kalamata in a summer of its 
own, Mistra in spring, and were now approaching a second win- 
ter at Tripolitza." The town stands at the southern foot of 
Mount Mainalion or Maenalus, (now called Roino,) which, ex- 
tending far to the north-east, bounds the western side of the plains 
of Mantineia and Orchomenos ; a tract of country which even 
the ancients stigmatized as cold and wintry (di;tf;ff6/^f pot,-.)* To 
this very circumstance, however, the excellence of the Arcadian 
pastures was probably attributable." Sir William Gell cannot 
help expressing his wonder, " that any pecuniary advantages 
should have tempted the Pasha of the Morea to fix his court in 
one of the coldest plains and the only very ugly spot in his domi- 
nions," — " in a large^ dirty, gloomy, ugly city, situated in the 
most uninviting spot and the worst climate possible." " It is sa- 
crificing a great deal to circumstances," he adds, " to remain, 
during the winter, in a climate worse, on the whole, than York- 
shire during that season, while the sun is shining and the violets 
are blooming in the plain of Argos, only a day's journey distant. 
Perhaps no country presents such a contrast of climates in the 
same extent of territory as Greece. I have, on more than one 
occasion, lived for some days at Corinth, suffering from the sleet 
and wind, to which its position is peculiarly liable, while from the 

* Pausanias in Dodwell. "The excellence of its pastures rendered it one 
of the favourite residences of Pan. It is, not, however, to be compaied with 
Taygeton, either for grandeur or for beauty." 



MODERN GREECE. 259 

hill above, tlie sunny citadel of Athens was seen shining bright 
under the splendour of a cloudless sky.* 

Tripolitza (called Tarabolitza by the Turks) has been sup- 
posed to derive its name from the three ancient cities in its vi- 
cinity, Tegea, Mainalos, and Mantineia, from the ruins of which 
the Greeks imagine it to have been built. f Mr. Dodwell sug- 
gests, however, tliat it most probably occupies the site of the La- 
conian Tripolis, which was on the confines of the Megalopolitan 
territory, called also Kalliai by Pausanias. The first coup d'mil 
of tlie place, on reaching the rising ground before the gates, is 
somewhat imposing, and with a setting sun, throwing the town 
into shadow, and hghting up the fine range of mountains beyond, 
rises to magnificence. " Ugly as it is," says Sir William Gell, 
" and ill-situated on a dead flat, without a single tree of any size, 
it has the air of a large city when viewed from a distance, being 
surrounded with a high wall in good repair, perfectly defensible 
against small arms, which are all that can easily be carried to the 
spot to be employed against it. I should imagine the wall to be 
about three miles in circuit, which would make it about the size 
of Athens, which contains 10,000 souls; but Tripolitza is 
entirely occupied with houses, Avhile the wall of Athens incloses 
large tracts of neglected ground." The walls, which are of stone, 
were constructed, M. Pouqueville says, by the Albanians, not 
more than fifty or sixty years ago. There are six gates. The 
klian, he states to be the only solid edifice in the town : it is built 
of stone, and closed by doors well strengthened with iron, which 
at night were barricadoed with large chains. There is a magni- 
ficent lintel, which once decorated the principal gate of Megalo- 
polis, as the inscription upon it attests ; it is now part of a basin 
which serves to water the cattle. In the mosques also, are 
" many precious antique columns and inscribed marbles." The 
appearance of the Turco-Grecian capital in 1799, is thus de- 
scribed by the French Traveller. 

" The seraglio, or palace of the Pasha, a vast wooden build- 
ing, capable of containing 1,200 men, is at the north-eastern ex- 
tremity of the town, between the gates of Napoli and Calavrita. 
It is, in fact, a sort of suburb, having its own particular walls and 

* Narrative, p. 161. This remark is sufficiently correct, taking into coHsi- 
deratioa the slight difference of elevation. The journey from Vera Cruz to 
Mexico exhibits a still more remarkable contrast. 

t Sir William Gell says, " Tegea, Mantinea, and Pallantium." Tegea was 
at Piali, near the road to Argos, about an hour and a quarter, or four miles, 
from Tripolitza. Mantinea was on the river Ophis, at Palaeopoli, distant two 
hours. The site of Mainalos has not been ascertained. Pallantium is at 
Thana, on the road to Leondari, distant about five hours and three quarters. 



360 MODERN GREECE. 

gates. Towards the middle of the principal street, which in- 
tersects the town from north to south, is the bazar. This is di- 
vided into a variety of streets, and is shaded by planes and other, 
large trees, upon which the storks build their nests very peacea- 
bly, although this is the place of public execution, those who are 
sentenced to be hung being suspended from the branches. Foun- 
tains extremely well kept, are to be seen all over the town, and 
every house has its well ; but the water, which is at a small 
depth in the ground, is generally of a very indifferent quality. 
The town has no running water, except what comes from the 
mountains to the north-west: this stream supplies the public 
baths and the tanneries, but is commonly dry in summer. A 
canal from the south conveys the waters of another small river 
to the town, but the sppply is by no means abundant. The 
Pasha, apprehensive of an invasion jfrom the French, had order- 
ed a redoubt to be thrown up to protect this canal, this being an 

object of the greatest importance There are four large 

mosques and five or six Greek churches, which are in a very 
ruinous state. The streets, except the principal one, are paved 
only in the middle, and are intersected by drains, which receive 
all the waste waters and odure of the houses, and are extremely 
offensive : over them are many small bridges. Some of the 
rich and powerful Turks have very large houses, but the poorer 
inhabitants, driven into the streets which run along the ramparts, 
inhabit houses, or rather huts, with the roof for a ceiling ; the 
fire is made upon the ground, and the smoke finds its only vent 
through the numerous vacancies in the tiling." 

The palace of the Pasha no longer exists, having been rased 
to the ground by the Greeks in 1821 ; and the town, alternately 
sacked by Mainotes and Arabs, exhibits an unsightly mass of 
ruins.* " Nothing can be worse," says Mr. Swan, " than the 
present state of Tripolitza : it could not be defended half an hour 
against a regular attack. The gates are in so dilapidated a con- 
dition that they might almost be kicked down, and the walls are 
in little better condition than the gates. The greater part of this 
extensive town is in complete ruin." The recommendations of 
the site are so few, that, notwithstanding its central position, the 
town is scarcely likely to regain its former importance, and it is 
certainly ill adapted for the capital of the Peninsula. Tripolitza 
is twelve hours from Mistra, (it may sometimes be accomplished 
in ten,) six and a half from Leondari, eight and three quarters 
from Karitena, nine and a quarter from Argos, (it may be per- 
formed in seven and three quarters,) and twenty from Kitries., 

* See pages 100—105, 



MODERN GREECE. 261 

Before we proceed further northward, we shall retrace our steps 
to accompany Sh" William Gell on his route 



FROM ARCADIA TO TRIPOLITZA. 

Desirous of exploring the ruins of Phigalia, the learned Anti- 
quary took the road to Sidero-kastro (Saint Isidore's Castle,)* 
distant not quite four hours to the N.E. The road lies over the 
plain of Arcadia, which, strange to say, is in Messenia : in about 
an hour and a half, it crosses, at a ford, the river of Arcadia, and 
at length enters a very, narrow glen, almost choked up with 
shrubs. The wildly undulating country thus far is covered with 
the oak, tlie arbutus, the myrtle, and the salvia. The village of 
Sidero-kastro is placed in a hollow between the two points of a 
steep hill, on one of which are the ruins of a small castle of mo- 
dern architecture, " without a trace of antiquity beyond the age 
of the Greek emperors." The houses of the village (thirty-two 
in number) are built of rough stone, without any ceiling to the 
roof; the windows are only closed with shutters; and the whole 
furniture of the hut in which our Traveller obtained a lodging, con- 
sisted of a single brass kettle and two pans of coarse earthenware. 
In fact, it is what Sir William would call a genuine Greek vil- 
lage. The population, amounting to about 150 souls, were 
" possibly among the most indigent in Greece." "We here," 
he continues, " first began to use our own beds, which were ex- 
tended upon carpets on each side of the fire, having brought with 
us every thing necessary for our own comfort. We found this 
sort of night's lodging commonly our lot in the mountains ; but 
as we ascended and quitted the shore, we were obliged to con- 
tent ourselves with only one side of the fire, leaving the other to 
our attendants. Indeed, more than once it has happened to me, 
to find so little room for the whole party, that the horses became 
part of the society ; aad I have even been obliged to get up and 
shorten my horse's halter, to prevent his treading upon me as I 
slept. Sleep, however, can, in that case, take place only at in- 
tervals, as the Greeks insist upon keeping the saddles upon the 
backs of the poor animals all night, causing them, as they shake 
themselves, to produce from the brazen stirrups an alarming har- 
mony like the bells of a team of wagon horses." It does not 

* It is a constant practice of the modern Greeks, we are told, not only to cut 
off the first, and often the last, letter from a name, but, as a general rule, to 
reverse the long and short syllables, so as to turn ,/igios Isidoros into Jlyo 
Sidero. 



262 MODERN GREECE. 

appear that the inconveniences of Greek travelling are greater 
than the traveller has to encounter in other mountainous regions, 
for instance in Spain ; and " the difficulty in providing for the 
table in Greece," is less in general, Sir William admits, than in 
the remote parts of Italy. 

From Sidero-kastro, our Traveller proceeded by a rocky and 
dangerous track, to the village of Paulitza, distant four hours.* 
The route crosses several little glens, watered by the heads of 
the Neda. At rather more than two hours from Sidero-kastro, 
an abundant and limpid fountain, forming a pretty waterfall, and 
producing the most luxuriant vegetation around, with its grove 
and ruined chapel, probably on the site of a pagan fane, presents 
one of those romantic and sequestered spots which have always 
been so sacred to the imagination of the Greeks. The place is 
called Drymas. " In a few minutes," proceeds the Author, " we 
came to another source, the stream of which ran in the opposite 
direction, and accompanied us on our descent toward the north. 
This fountain has been decorated with some kind of edifice, now 
ruined, and near it we observed the vestiges of a circular tower un- 
der some ancient trees. In a short time we descended into a most 
beautiful and romantic dell, shaded by tall laurels, or bays, and 
evergreen oaks, which, even in winter, almost excluded the 
beams of the sun ; and where, in summer, the additional foliage 
of the numerous planes bordering the brook must render the ob- 
scurity still more remarkable. In this glen we found the traces 
of a wall, which, with the towers we had just passed, probably 
denoted the boundaries of some ancient or modern divisions of 
territory, and not impossibly the district of Phigaleia, and even of 
the region of Arcadia itself. We crossed the brook and its ad- 
juncts four times, once at a picturesque mill, and lastly under a 
roaring cataract, beautifully overhung with bays, above which 
the gloom was continued and deepened by the knotted trunks 
and dark shadows of the ilex. 

" The agreeable sensations which the singularity and beauty 
of this scenery inspired, were nevertheless considerably counter- 
balanced by the extreme danger and difficulty which we encoun- 
tered in the descent from the height to which we had been insen- 
sibly conducted, above the main stream of the glen. We reach- 

* From Sidero-kastro, Cape Katacolo bears N.W. by N. ; Arcadia, S.W. by 
W. 1-4S.; Ithome, S.S.E. "Somewhere in this neighbourhood must have 
been the cities of Dorion and Auion, and not far distant, Ira." To the left of 
the road to Paulitza is seen " the pretty village" of Platania, overlooking a 
valley watered by one of the branches of the Neda, where are ruins of another 
fortress. 



MODERN GREECE. 263 

ed tlie bottom by a zig-zag patli of tremendous declivity, some- 
times obliterated by fallen rocks, and only practicable with the 
greatest care and precaution. It was here that we found our- 
selves on the banks of the celebrated Neda, flowing rapidly 
through one of the most singular chasms in the world, under 
magnificent precipices, which tower to an astonishing height on 
each side, and seem to oppose the passage of its waters ; leaving, 
in fact, no space but that which time and the incessant flood have 
worn between the most prominent of their enormous masses. 

" The district of the Nomian mountains did indeed differ 
essentially in its circumstances from almost all other tracts 
of pastoral occupation, generally too remote to derive benefit 
from tliat civilisation which is produced by the intercourse with 
cities and tlie sight of strangers ; whereas these were not only 
surrounded by populous cities, at small distances from eacj;i 
other, but contained within their own confined circuit, cities of no 
inconsiderable extent, and were frequented by the inhabitants of 
all the surrounding states, on the occasion of the Lycaean games, 
which took place on one of their summits. They appear also 
to have been, to a certain 'degree, exempt from the horrors of 
frequent war ; partly protected by the sanctity of the region, and 
partly by the impregnable nature of their fastnesses. 

" Phigaleia, a very considerable city, as may be seen by the 
circuit of its walls, extended over a rugged, and elevated tract. 
We crossed the Neda near a waterfall, and ascending by a steep 
path, came immediately to the foundations of what must have 
been the gate of Phigaleia, after a ride of about four hours and 
thirty minutes. Another rugged ascent, which in one part con- 
sists of a road supported by ancient masonry, conducted us in 
about ten minutes to the little village of Paulitza, or Paolitza, the 
present representative of the Arcadian city. 

" Of the ancient city, the walls alone remain : they were 
flanked with towers, both square and circular. One gate, to- 
ward the east, is yet covered with blocks which approach each 
other like the under side of a staircase. There has been a tem- 
ple of fine limestone, of the Doric order, and we found one in- 
scription. In the church of the Panagia are other vestiges of a 
small temple ; and it is not easy to imagine what has become of 
the remaining fragments, considering the impracticability of re- 
moving any heavy stone from a place so situated. We saw also 
an Ionic capital. The walls of the church were daubed with the 

blackened pictures of Greek saints In our way over a bare 

hill, forming part of the hill of Paulitza, we observed a heap of an- 
cient stones, said by the people of the country to have been a re- 



246 MODERN GREECE. 

servoir for the citadel of Phigaleia : being, however, on a lower 
level, we imagined them to be the remains of a bath." 

After exploring these ruins, the learned Traveller, mistaking 
his way descended, in half an hour, to the village of Graditza, 
situated in a little cultivated valley with a copious fountain, and 
containing a population of about 100 souls in twenty houses. Turn- 
ing eastward, he thence took the direct road to Tragoge, (or Tra- 
gode,) a village situated on the mountain anciently called Cotylion, 
not far from_ the ruins which were the object of his search. He 
found the road in the valley almost impassable from the number 
of shallow rivulets which ran over the slippery turf; till at length, 
in an hour and a quarter, he arrived at the bridge of the rapid 
Limax, " in the bed of which stands a chapel on a rock, shaded 
by a fine groupe of those beautiful planes which seem the natural 
produce of every river of the Peloponnesus. The place is very 
picturesque, and is immediately under the rock above which the 
little village of Apano Tragoge (Upper Tragoge) is situated." 

Having passed the night at this village, the learned Traveller 
proceeded the next morning to explore the remains of the cele- 
brated temple of Apollo Epicurius at a place anciently called 
Bassas, but now known only under the name of the Columns. 
" The path lay under the spreading arms of ancient oaks, up an 
ascent not too rugged to prevent the enjoyment of the sylvan 
scene, which presented itself in all the reality of an Arcadian 
forest. 

" In one place we found a litde triangular cultivated hollow, 
watered by a fountain, Avhich may be taken for a source men- 
tioned by Pausanias, and is the nearest we discovered to the 
temple. Proceeding for a few minutes, we arrived at the ruin 
itself, which is by far the most stately and best preserved of any 
in the Morea, and placed in the most singular and romantic situ- 
ation that painting could desire, or poetry imagine. The posi- 
tion is the ridge of a hill, rapidly declining to the east, but not 
liable to the objection of ' bare and bald,' which would accom- 
pany the most elevated summit ; and as the mountain rises still 
higher to the north and to the south, the temple may be consid- 
ered as placed on a species of saddle between the two points. 
There is just that accompaniment of old oaks which serves to 
embellish, without concealing the architecture ; and that solitude, 
so rarely found among ancient ruins, where no sort of cottage, 
with its dirty appurtenances, intrudes to destroy the repose of the 
scene."* 

* Gell's Narrative, pp. 99 — 110. Mr. Dodwell, who subsequently visited 
this temple, reached it from Karitena by a different route. In an hour and a 



MODERN GREECE. 265 

According to Pausanias, this temple was, next to that of Mi- 
nerva at Tegea, the most beautiful in the Peloponnesus, both for 
its materials and the haiuiiony of its proportions. It was dedi- 
cated to Apollo Epikourios (the helper), on account of his hav- 
ing delivered the country from the plague.* The spot on which 
it stands seems to have been chosen, Mr. Dodwell says, "in or- 
der to excite surprise and to inspire awe in those who approach 
tlie shrine of the deity. It is ski-eened from the view by the 
steep rocks that rise from the road ; nor does it meet the eye 
until, on turning round the edge of a precipice, it presents its 
front within a few yards of the astonished traveller. It has the 
same effect in whatever direction it is approached, as it is situated 
in a small plain closely environed by hills on all sides, except on 
that towards the descent to Ampelone. Its lofty and solitary 
situation has happily averted the destruction of this elegant edi- 
fice, and the greater part of it still remains. 

" The temple stands nearly north and south, contrary to the 
general rule of Grecian temples, which usually stand east and 
west. It is built of a fine close-grained stone or lithomarge 
found near the spot, which equals marble in the hardness of its 
texture and the polish of its surface. Its colour is a light brown, 
with a suffusion of yellow. There were originally six columns 

half from that town, he reached a flat-topped hill, called Kourounu (Korog- 
nia ?), where are the foundations of a modern fortress, probably Venetian. 
The route lay through a mountainous tract, rugged with rocks and bushes, 
and exhibiting a tew chestnut-trees and small oaks. A fine range of mountains 
rose to the right, and the plain of Megalopolis lay beneath him on the left. In 
three hours and a half, he reached the village called Kareas (Karies), situated 
near a hill of the same name, on which are ancient remains. Many small 
streams rise in this hill, which, stealing through the sinuosities of the moun- 
tains, ultimately swell the ciR-rent of the Alpheus. In forty minutes from Kareas, 
the road descends to a fountain and grove of planes and oaks ; and for twenty 
minutes more, it continues to wind through venerable forests clothing the steep 
declivity, till, at the foot of the hill, the traveller crosses a rivulet, and arrives 
at the village of Ampelone, five hours from Karitena. This place takes its 
name from the extensive vineyards in this vicinity. The ancient Phigalians 
were strenuous votaries of Bacchus. The road to the temple from this village 
is " steep and rocky, and one of the worst in Greece. In an hour, Mr. Dod- 
well passed through two small contiguous villages, Skleru Apanu (Upper Skle- 
ru — from 2<cX7?pos, difficult) and Skleru Kato (Lower Skleru) ; in which the cot- 
tages are rooTed with the slate found near the spot. After an ascent of fifty 
minutes from Skleru, he reached the temple. 

* The architect was the same Ictinus who, in the time of Pericles, erected 
the celebrated temple of Minerva. — Pausanias, lib. viii. cap. 41. (See Trav- 
els of Anacharsis, vol. iv. ch. 52.) A temple was in like manner erected at 
Athens in honour of Apollo Alexikakos (the destroyer of evil), in gratitude for 
his having liberated the Athenians from the plague. " The fact is," Mr. Dod- 
well remarks, " that it is the great heat which is inimical to the contagion, for 
which reason it was fabled to be destroyed by Apollo. Saint Jo^n is at pre- 
sent invoked on. these occasions, and the plague is supposed to cease its ravages 
in Turkey on the 24th of June, the anniversary of the saint. 
34 



266 MODERN GEEECE. 

on each front, and fifteen on the sides. The capitals resemble 
in their form those of the Parthenon. The temple was com- 
posed of forty-two columns, besides the insulated Corinthian 
column and the ten pilasters of the Ionic order within the cella, 
the capitals of which were of white marble. The statue of the 
divinity (which was of bronze and twelve feet in height) is con- 
jectured, but without any plausible reason, to have been placed 
against the Corinthian column which was opposite the entrance 
of the cella. There are at present thirty-six columns standing, 
besides some of the frustra of the pilasters. The lower part of 
the epystilia is almost entire, but many of the columns are out of 
the perpendicular. The architrave has consequently been dis- 
jointed in several places, and menaces an approaching fall. 
The roof and the walls of the cella have fallen, and the sculp- 
tured frieze was covered with the ruins. The interior of the 
temple has since been cleared out, and the frieze which sur- 
rounded the interior of the cella, sent to the British Museum.* 
The length of the temple is 125 feet by 48 in front ; that of the 
cella is 58 feet, the breadth 20. The columns, including the 
capital, are about 20 feet in height. 

" The Phigalian frieze is composed of two subjects. One is 
the old story of the Centaurs and the Lapithai, upon eleven slabs, 
and consisting of forty-seven figures. The other subject, which is 
on twelve slabs, represents the batde between the Amazons and the 
Greeks, and cor.sists of fifty-three figures. Many of the combatants 
are naked, and the greater part are without helmets : they are 
armed with the aspis, or Argolic shield. The accessories were of 
metal, as the perforations and bits of bronze and lead still re- 
maining on the marble, indicate. Their motions are extremely 
varied, but, for the most part, neither dignified nor natural, and 
some are preposterously caricatured. Their relief is nearly as 
high as that of the metopcE of the Parthenon. The height of 
the frieze is two feet, and the entire length of what was found 
in the temple, and is now in the British Museum, is 96 feet. 
The frieze was carried round the hypsethral part of the cella on 
the interior, and received its light from above. The proportions 
of the figures are so decidedly bad, that, even in their original 
position, these defects must have been visible, as they occupied 
a place which was a little more than twenty feet from the ground. 
The general proportion is five heads in height, and some are even 

* "The marbles were excavated in the year 1812, by Mr. Robert Cockerell 
and Mr. John Foster." — Dodwell. Sir W. Gall says, " the temple was 
cleared by Barons Linckh and Haller, and Messrs. Foster and Cockerell were 
prese nt at the original discovery." 



MODERN GREECE. 267 

less. The feet arc long, the legs short and stumpy, the extrem- 
ities ridiculous in the design, and imperfect in the execution ; 
and they resemhle the style which is observed on the better kind 
of Roman Sarcophagi. They are so far inferior to the general 
composition, that they were probably sculptured at the quarries 
by artists of little note. They are not, however, altogether 
without interest, and a certain pretension to merit."* 

The view from the temple is very rich and extensive, its site 
being sufficiently elevated to enable the eye to range from the 
Strophades and the city of Arcadia to Mount Ithome and the 
Messenian Gulf ; while, on the east, the two highest summits of 
tlie Nomian mountains, Tetrauzi and Diophorti, terminate the 
view over hills covered with thick forests of oak.f 

Pursuing his journey in a northerly direction. Sir W. Gell fol- 
lowed the course of the Limax, which, above the springs of Tra- 
goge, is a mere rivadet. Half an hour from the village, some old 
fig-trees mark the site of a deserted village called Palaio Tra- 
goge. Half an hour further, is a fountain called Tou Kalili 
Idris,\ with a ruined chapel near it, shewing that the spot has at 
one period possessed the attractions of an agiasma. After 
another hour of abominable road through the most beautiful 
scenery imaginable, formed by hill, and grove, and brook, the 
fount of Panoura (or Banoura) presents itself. On the banks 
of a rivulet about a mile further, are found fragments of green 
and red jasper. The same sort of scenery continues, with a 
succession of rivulets, till the traveller reaches a height within a 
short distance of Andrutzena, where an extensive view of the 
vale of the Alpheus opens upon him. On the left, on a lofty 
peak of the Nomian range, are seen the ruins called Zakouka, 
on the north side of which is the large modern town of Phanari, 
surrounded with clumps of cypresses ; and on the south, in the 
forest, is the village of Vervitza. Towards the Alpheus are seen 
the village of Kouphopoli, and, on a rocky summit, the fortress 

/ 

,* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 385 — 8. These marbles, the Writer remarks, would 
be seen to much less disadvantage in the British Museum, were they not so im- 
mediately confronted with thcmatchless sculptures of the Parthenon ; but, in 
order fairly to judge of them as architectural decorations, they ought to be 
raised to their original height, which was twenty feet six inches from the pave- 
ment, and consequently about fifteen feet above the spectator's eye; theii want 
of symmetry would tlicn, at all events, be less apparent, and the general 
effect probably be very different. 

t" Across tlie Neda and south of the temple, is a village called Kacoletri, 
near which are ruins, which some think those of Ira, the capital of Messenia 
in the time of Aristomenes." — Geli.'s Tiinerary, p. 84. 

t Perhaps TovKaw\i\i iSpvmg- Sir W. Gell supposes it to have been named 
from the Turk who constructed it. 



268 MODERN GREECE. 

of Nerrovitza (tlie site of Alipherse). The snowy peaks of 
Mount Olonos tower in the distance above the tops of a magnif- 
icent range-, only less striking by comparison. Passing through 
the villages of Sanalia and Upper Andrutzena, the traveller en- 
ters the large straggling town of Andrutzena, consisting of about 
300 mean dwellings picturesquely grouped amid groves of the 
evergreen oak. Distance from Tragoge, three hours and a 
quarter ; from Arcadia, thirteen hours and a quarter. Yet, it is 
less than thirty miles from that city. 

From Andrutzena, Sir William Gell's route lay eastward 
along the northern base of the Nomian range, and in a direction 
nearly parallel to the course of the Alpheus, to Karitena ; a 
distance of five hours and three quarters in time, but not more 
than ten computed miles. At the end of the first hour and a 
half, a rugged descent through a grove of ilex, leads to the river 
Sourtena, which is crossed by a bridge of one arch. In a little 
triangular plain, where this river is joined by another stream 
from the mountains, are vestiges of a town, with its palaio-kas- 
tro on the summit of a conical mount, now called Labda. The 
beautiful fountain which once supplied the city, issues from under 
a rocky hill ; and above the source, a ruined chapel dedicated to 
the Panagia, with a spreading plane, marks the site of a more 
ancient temple. On the top of an ascent from this place is 
caught the first view of Karitena, proudly seated on a rocky sum- 
mit in the midst of the most enchanting scenery. " The fore- 
ground is a height covered with oaks, from which, on the right, 
many wooded ridges of the Nomian hills fall in rich succession 
of forms and tints to the rapid stream of the Alpheus, here seen 
forcing its way through a deep bed of rocks below. The 
junction of the Katchicolo (Gortyna) is also seen, running from 
high mountains on the left ; and above the fortress of Karitena-, 
the immense mass of Mount Maenalus rises in a variety of majes- 
tic peaks, among which, that called Salto tes Elatas is distin- 
guished, black with the firs whence its name is derived. The 
road noW descended for more than an hour in steep and danger- 
ous declivities to the banks of the Alpheus, which we had 
scarcely time to admire, before we found our path intercepted 
by an envious torrent so beautiful and so copious, that we at first 
took it for the main stream. After following this branch for a 
short time, under a thick shade of platanus and ilex, we turned 
short to the left, over a rock, and were surprised to find that we 
had passed round the source which issues from its foot. Nothing 
can exceed the beauty of this sequestered spot ; and if deep 
glens, spreading trees, and gushing waters, constitute the delights 



MODERN GREECE. 269^ 

of Arcadian scenery, the poets have not sung in vain the praises 
of this region. 

" On looking southward up the mountain of Diaphorte, we 
descried the village of Tragomano in so elevated a situation, that 
the descent to the fount occupies nearly an hour. Half an hour 
higher up is the Hippodrome of the Lycaean games, and twenty 
minutes more would bring to the summit a person who should be 
disposed to climb into what is perhaps the most interesting among 
the most interesting mountains in the world. 

" Our fount was not without its temple, or at least its sacred 
enclosure, of which some indications remain. Hence, we 
climbed to another summit, where we found the church of St. 
Athanasius, and, on our next descent, passed the leaning minarets 
of a mosque which has long ceased to exist ; our guides called 
the place, Palaio Karitena. The view of the present town and 
its castle has a fine effect from this spot ; but the Alpheus, 
which flows between the houses and the spectator, runs in so 
deep a glen and below such tremendous precipices, as to be 
wholly invisible. At the end of a long descent, we reached the 
bridge of Karitena, situated at a point where the stream begins 
to contract on entering the chasm below the town. The bridge, 
though a wretched specimen of the art of masonry, is not 
wanting in picturesque beauty, having a sort of chapel against 
one of its piers, wliich would seem to give it a Venetian origin. 
Tlie river, which is in fact the great drain of the plain of 
Megalopolis and all the interior of the Morea, is subject to such 
rapid increase of its waters, that a few minutes are sufficient to 
render the bridge impassable, and even to carry away the main 
arch, under which alone it usually pr-ecipitates itself in a very 
deep bed, leaving the others dry. From the bridge, an ascent 
of more than twenty minutes brought us to the town."* 

ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT LYC^EUS. 

Mr. Dodwell, in travelling from Karitena to lleondari, 
ascended the summit of Mount Lycaeus, which is known under 
the modern name of Tetrauzi or Tetragi. Quitting Ampelone 
(Ampeliona), he crossed a small stream, and descended into a 
narrow cultivated vale, which winds into the mountains. In fifty 
minutes he came to a fine copious spring, rushing out of the rock 
to the left, beneath the shade of some stately planes : it soon 

* Cell's Narrative, pp. 120—3. 



270 MODERN GREECE. 

unites with another rapid rivulet, which has its source higher up. 
This is the real source of the Neda, which, according to ancient 
fable, was made to issue from Mount Lyceeon by Rhea, that she 
might wash Jupiter after his birth,* and which, lower down, se- 
parated the Messenian and Eleian territories. From this place, 
Mr. Dodwell ascended, among bushes, to a forest of oak and 
plane, leaving the ruined village of Rassona to the left 5 and, at 
■the end of two hours and forty minutes, quitting the direct road 
to Issari and Leondari, turned to the right, to ascend the steep 
part of the mountain. After proceeding fifty minutes, all ap- 
pearance of a track disappeared, and the way became so rug- 
ged and perilous, that the travellers were obliged to dismount 
and to keep close to the edge of a most tremendous precipice, 
rising almost perpendicularly from the craggy ravines and savage 
glens below, and commanding some of the wildest scenery in 
Greece. 

" The upper part of the mountain," Mr. Dodwell continues, 
" is a steep cone, composed of loose and jagged stones, with no 
other vegetation than a few scattered bushes of the lentiscus. It 
took us three hours and fifty minutes from Ampelone, to reach 
the top of the mountain, without including stopping. As soon as 
we arrived at the summit, a cold, bleak wind blew from the north, 
and some snow fell. Black masses of cloudy vapour hung upon 
the mountains, the thunder burst below us, and tremulous corus- 
cations of lightning gleamed in the valleys. During the inter- 
vals of the thunder, our ears were greeted with a firing of mus- 
ketry in the valleys, proceeding from skirmishes between the 
Turks and the bandits. In a short time the clouds were dis- 
persed by the sweeping violence of the northern wind; and 
when the atmosphere became cl(i;ar, no words can convey an 
adequate idea of the enchanting scene which burst upon us. 
The snow-crested summits of Taygeton rise in rugged majesty 
and towering pride, above the smooth and even surface of the 
Messenian Gulf, terminated by the blue horizon of the open sea; 
and the broad Pamisos is seen winding through the rich plain of 
Stenykleros, and adding to its tributary stream. The flat-top- 
ped Ithome is distinguished beyond the great plain of Messenia, 
enveloped in tints of aerial blue. The Cape of Coron is ob- 
served shooting into the gulf. The open sea is now and then 
descried over the undulating surface of the Messenian mountains. 
The plain and acropolis of Cyparissiai (Arcadia) are distinguish- 

* According to Strabo, Pausanias ascribes that lionour to the Limax, which 
falls into the Neda. The source on the way to Tragomano, Sir W. Gell thinks, 
must be that of the Plataniston, which joins the Neda near Ampeliona. 



MODERN GREECE. 271 

ed clearly, rising from the Cyparissian Gulf. A long line of open 
sea is then contemplated towards tlie west, and, further north, the 
dim and distant outlines of Zante and Cephalonia. SkoUis and 
Olenos are next beheld, tipped with snow ; nor are even the 
misty sujnmits unseen, which are beyond the Olympic plain. 
The ramification from Lycfeon which forms Mount Kotylion, ap- 
pears toward the north, with its temple like a luminous speck. 
The panorama is closed with the flat and verdant plain of Mega- 
lopolis, with its ancient capital, the winding Alpheios, and the 
lofty mountains which rise beyond it. The nearer view is grati- 
fied by the sight of abrupt precipices and wooded masses reced- 
ing one behind another, varied with intervening glens and plains, 
and adorned with every variety of tint that nature ever combined 
in her most fantastic mood and most smiling hour. 

" The rocks of the mountain are calcareous, and its soil, ex- 
cept towards the summit, is fertile, enriched with pasture, and 
adorned with wood. A tumulus on its summit is composed of 
small rough stones and earth, amongst which are some fragments 
of bones, apparently burned. We also see two ruined churches, 
built chiefly of small ancient blocks of hewn stone. There can 
be litde doubt that this is the spot where a mound of earth was 
sanctified by an altar of the Lycaean Jove, fronted by two col- 
umns, each of which supported an eagle of gold. The mound 
still remains, and the two churches probably stand on the site of 
the columns : the ancient stones, perhaps, constituted their base- 
ments. Great part of the Peloponnesus was, according to Pau- 
sanias, visible from this spot."* 

The other summit of Lycseus, now called Diaphorte, appeared 
to Mr. Dodwell to be nearly of the same height. It is to be regret- 
ted that he did not ascend it. According to Sir William Gell, 
it is only an hour from the village of Ampeliona to this summit, 
whereas it took upwards of two hours to ascend Tetragi. The 
sides of Diophorte are covered with thick woods of chestnut, 
under which the shepherds of the country still feed their flocks, 
as when Pan, the favourite deity of Arcadia, had his temple, and 
grove, and sacred games on the summit. At fifty minutes from 
Ampeliona are some ruins on the mountain, called Kastraki, near 
which, on an eminence, is a chapel beneath a large spreading 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 391 — 3. Some have supposed that Diophorte was 
the site of the Lycaean altar, and that Tetragi is the ancient Kerausios. Sir 
William Gell gives it this name ; but Mr. Dodwell supposes Diophorte to be 
Kerausios, as the Neda rises at its foot. The following bearings were taken 
from Tetragi. A cape of Taygetus in Maina, S. 2 E. Convent on Ithome, S. 
20 W. Acropolis of Arcadia, S. 75 W. Southern extremity ofZante, N. 55 
W. Mount Skollis, N. 10 W. Lalla, N. 2 E. Sinano, N. 85 1-2 E. 



272 MODERN GREECE. 

tree. Here a fair is held in May. There are vestiges of a mo- 
dern village ; and in a ruined chapel, near a source and an an- 
cient virall, is the angular triglyph of a Doric temple, with a fluted 
pedestal and a plain column ; large antique vases have also been 
found here. From this part of the mountain, a very rugged 
ascent conducts to the summit, leaving to the left in the way, a 
valley where there is a fountain, " said to be warm." This has 
been supposed to be that called Hogno, the source of the Neda, 
in which the infant Jupiter was washed. The summit of Dio- 
phorte is " a circular level, about fifty yards in diameter, evi- 
dently artificial." It commands, like Tetragi, a magnificent 
view of the plain of Megalopolis, as well as that of Messenia.'^ 
There can be little doubt, we think, that the remains of the 
Doric temple and grove mark the site of the ancient w^orship 
celebrated on Mount Lycseus in honour of the god Pan ; and it 
is far from improbable, that the fair held here in May is the ge- 
nuine vestige of the games mentioned by Pausanias as performed 
near his fane.f Kerausios, as well as Olympus, Cotylius, Elaius, 
and Nomia, was but a part of Mount Lycaeon, different summits 
being described under these various appellations ; but Tetragi, 
as being, apparently, the highest summit, would seem to have 
the best claim to the distinctive title of Lycseus, and the ancient 
vestiges mentioned by Mr. Dodwell leave scarcely room to 
doubt that that was the spot where sacrifices were offered to the 
Lycasan Jupiter. 

On descending to the eastward from the summit of Diophorte, 
towards Karitena, there are found several large and well-cut 
blocks of stone, with the ruins of a Doric temple of white mar- 
ble ; the columns have twenty-one flutes, and are three feet in 
diameter. " Ten minutes below this, in a little plain near the 
summit of the mountain, are the remains of a hippodrome (horse- 
course), at one extremity of which is an edifice composed of 
two sorts of masonry, polygonal and horizontal. On the bank 
which forms the hippodrome, are some stone columns- On the 
same plain, in the way from the hippodrome to Megalopolis, are 
the ruins of a fortification, near which is a fountain. From this 
valley, which appears like a crater, after ascending a litfle to the 
N.W., a very rugged and rapid descent runs near two sources 
to the village of Trogomano. The prospects are magnificent, 
extending beyond Elis to the N.W." From Tragomano, the 

* Geirs Itinerary, p. 106. The following are given as bearings from this 
summit. Arcadia, S. 64, 30 W. Tetrage, S. 34, 30 W. Ithome, S. 25 W. 
Sinano S. 55 E. Agios Elias (Taygetus,) S 17, 30 E. Caritena, N. 62, 30 W. 

t Pausanias, lib. viii, c, 38. See Travels of Anacharsis, vol. iv. c. 52. 



MODERN GREECE. 273 

voad leads to the fount already mentioned, which Sir W. Geli 
supposed to be the source ot" the Plataniston, and thence, by the 
chapel of St. Anastasius, to the bridge of Karitena. The de- 
scent from the summit to Karitena occupies nearly three hours.* 
Karitena appears to derive its name from the river anciently 
called Gortynius (or Gortyna), which, a short distance to the 
north of the town, joins the Alpheus. The ancient Gortys, 
which was reduced to a village in the time of Pausanias, was at 
a place marked by some ancient vestiges, now called indifferent- 
ly Marmora and Kachikolo-kastro, an hour and three quarters 
further northward. f Kaiitena was a place of strength in the 
lower ages, and is mentioned as one of the principal towns in the 
Morea in the year 1459. It derives a sort of renown in our 
own times, from having given birth to the redoubtable Theodore 
Colocotroni. The town, in 1 805, contained about 3000 inhabi- 
tants, principally Greeks, and was governed by a voivode. There 
ai"e few, if any, vestiges of remote antiquity about the place ; but, 
on a flat-topped insulated rock which rises above the town, there 
are ruins of a modern fort, probably of Venetian construction, 
which may occupy the site of an acropolis. " It is scarcely 
possible," Sir. W. Gell remarks, " that so fine a situation should 
not have been selected for a city in ancient times ; but no other 
place is known to have existed near this place, except a town 
called Brenthea. The castle is capable of repair, and would 
then have a fine appearance, and be a place of strength against 
small arms, but, being surrounded with higher eminences within 
range, w^ould be quite untenable against artillery." 

* Gell's Itinerary, p. 108. The hippodrome is, perhaps, the site of the games 
held in honour of Pan. 

t The junction of the Gortyna and the Alpheus is at a place anciently called 
Rhsetea (Raiteai) : some vestiges are seen on an eminence between the two 
rivers. The road to Gortys lies for an hour along a high bank on the eastern 
side of the Gortynius, and then crosses it at a bridge, " under which the river 
rolls rapidly amid lofty precipices which throw a shade of wild horror over 
the adjacent scenery." A rugged and winding path leads from the bridge to 
the ruins, which stand on a high rocii, rising nobly from the north bank of the 
river. Below the road on the right are seen a monastery and caves in the 
rock. The remains consist of the foundations of a temple (ninety feet by for- 
ty-five), with some scattered fragments of white marble, supposed to be that of 
Esculapius, mentioned by Pausanias, which was composed of Pentelic marble. 
Mr. Dodwell was informed that the pavement, which was of the same material, 
had been taken up a few years before and burned into lime at Karitena. The 
superstructure has probably shared the same fate. There is a second temple, 
once an oracle of Apollo, among the ruins. Several masses of the walls (of 
polygonal masonry) which surrounded the town, still remain. There are ruins 
of two small gates near each other, and of a larger one facing Karitena. The 
lintels have all fallen. The town was small, but strongly situated in " a wretch- 
ed rocky mountain, on a tremendous precipice." 

35 



274 MODERN GREECE. 

" Karitena," says Mr. Emerson, " carried on a considerable 
trade in tobacco, silk,, dried fruits, and tolerable wine. It was 
the residence of the celebrated klepht, Colocotroni, and being 
one of the first places to raise the standard of freedom, felt the 
full fury of the Turks j insomuch that a portion of troops sent 
from Tripolitza destroyed almost the entire town, while the un- 
fortunate inhabitants were obliged to desert their houses, and flee 
for refuge to the neighbouring mountains, or enclose themselves 
within the walls of their impregnable citadel. It now (1825) 
presents little more than a mass of ruins, the few houses still 
standing being inhabited by impoverished families, who subsist 
solely by the partial culture of the fields in the vicinity."* 

The Gortyna was anciently celebrated for the coldness of its 
waters. It was said, that they were never frozen by the sever- 
est cold, and that the greatest heats never altered their tempe- 
rature ; they were alike delightful to bathe in or to drink. Pau- 
sanias states, that its source was at Theisoa in the Methydrian 
territory, where it was named Lousios, because Jupiter was 
bathed in it soon after he was born. It now bears the name of 
Kachikolo, or Atchicolo ; and there is a village of this name to 
the N.W. of the ruins of Gortys. Sir William Gell states, that 
it runs from a plain beyond Dimitzana, a large town about two 
miles further to the north, which had, prior to the Revolution, 
the most flourishing school in the Morea, with a library contain- 
ing some old editions of the classics. There is a palaio kastro 
near the town. 

On leaving Karitena for Tripolitza, the traveller descends into 
the great plain of Megalopolis, near the western extremity of 
which the former town is situated, and in less than half an hour, 
crosses a stream called Khalibashi. As he proceeds, the No- 
mian range, which bounds the plain, recedes on his right, pre- 
senting, among many picturesque points and recesses, the peak 
called Sourias to Kastro, the site of the ancient Lycosura. The 
road lies along the foot of the range which forms part of Mount 
Maenalus, just sufficiently on the height to afford a view of every 
object in the plain. The village of Brahimi, is left on the right, 
and further on are passed Palaio Suli and Palaio Paula. At the 
end of about three hours and a half, the road begins to quit 
the plain by a gradual ascent, passes a place called Palaiopoli, 
and at length, in an hour further, enters a long narrow glen called 
Langadia, which conducts to the summit of the defile. Here 
Sir W. Gell found a derveni without a guard, and a khan without 

* Picture of Greece, vol, i. p. 76, 



MODERN GREECE. 275 

a host. The difference of climate at this elevation is very per- 
ceptible. The traveller has reached the region of pines, and is 
not far from that of snow. Half an hour further is another der- 
vefii; and after anotlier ascent, where tlie air is still more pierc- 
ing, he descends into a bare valley, compared by Sir W. Gell to 
the dreary scenery in the neighbourhood of Skipton and Settle 
in Yorksliire. Here he crosses the stream of the Helisson, v^hich 
divided the ancient city of Megalopolis. The wretched villages 
of Daulia, Daveia, and Kallipaki (or Gallipaki) are now seen ; 
also, on two peaked rocks, the ruined forts of Kastraki and Da- 
veia. On leaving " the ugly plain of Daveia," the traveller has 
to pass ov^er another summit, and then descends into the plain of 
Tripolitza. Anotlier hour brings him to the gates of the 
city. The computed distance from Karitena is eight hours ; 
but it occupied Sir W. Gell eight hours and three quarters. 

MEGALOPOLIS. 

The site of the ancient Megalopolis, the name of which we 
have had so frequent occasion to mention, is found at Sinano, a 
village four hours to the south of Karitena, and an hour and a 
half from Leondari.* The latter town, which stands at the 
southern extremity of the plain, was erroneously supposed by 
D'Anville to have been the site of Megalopolis itself, f The 
route from thence to Mistra has already been described, but we 
must now briefly trace Sir W. Gell's route from Tripolitza. It 

* Mr. Dodwell reached Sinano from the khan of Sakona. (See vol. i. p. 292.) 
In fifty minutes he crosfsed the road from Arcadia to Leondari, and arrived 
near the ruins of an ancient city, situated on an insulated hill at the foot of Ly- 
CEeus, called Helleniko Kastro ; supposed to be Andania, once the capital of 
Messenia, and the birth-place of Aristomenes. (Sir W. Gell says that it is 
still called Sandani.) In two hours and a half, after crossing several rivulets, 
he reached the village of Krano, situated on the ridge extending from Mount 
Taygetus to Mount Lycseus. Here is a derveni; and the place (supposed to 
be the ancient Kromon,) is probably near the boundary between Arcadia and 
Messenia. From above the village, (an ascent of ten minutes,) there is an 
extensive view of the plains of Megalopolis and Messenia, Ithome bearing 5.47 
W. On the summit is a forest of oaks. The village of Issari is to the left. 
After passing some very ancient foundations with tiles, the road becomes a 
steep descent. An hour from the top of the ridge, Mr. Dodwell crossed a 
stream, and twenty minutes further, another, (supposed to be the Mallous and 
the Syros,) flowing to the Alpheus, That river is crossed in a quarter of an 
hour after entering the plain, running northward. Twenty minutes further is 
a village on a mount, with walls, called Aias Bey ; ten minutes from which 
brought the travellers to the ruins. 

t He was misled, probably, by the notorious Abbe Fourmont, whose account 
of his journey through this part of Arcadia, Mr. Dodwell says, " is a tissue of 
errors, as he has mistaken Leondari for Megalopolis, and Megalopolis for Man^ 
■tineia." 



276 MODERN GREECE. 

was by way of Leondari that Ibrahim Pasha advanced on tlie 
capital. 

The road from Tripolitza traverses the plain in a direction 
nearly south, varying to W.S.W. Not far from the gates of the 
city, Sir W. Gell noticed " certain elevations which mark the site 
of an ancient city." In about twenty minutes, he ascended by a 
rocky glen to a barren, rocky moor, and at the end of twenty 
minutes more, crossed a brook flowing from the right, and termi- 
nating in a " marsliy sheet of water" at the foot of the hills on the 
left, called Limne, (the lake,) supposed to be one of the sources 
of the Ere (Eurotas) and of the Roseo (Alpheus).* " These 
rivers," remarks the learned Traveller, " have the credit, which 
they have enjoyed for nearly three thousand years, of rising to 
the surface, and afterwards descending into the earth many times 
in their courses. Some miles on the left of our present road, I 
afterwards saw the supposed sources at the foot of Mount Ber- 
vena. I observed also, that the stream sinks into the earth in 
the same valley in the road from Mistra to Tripolitza, and it then 
falls into this lake, whence there is no visible outlet." At the 
foot of the hills on the right is the village of Phtane, or Thana, 
with vestiges of Pallantium. In about an hour, the road leaves 
this plain, and crosses two ridges of a stony and barren tract. f 
At the foot of the rugged descent is a derveni, beyond which, on 
the right, is a high tumulus, apparently artificial, with some an- 
cient vestiges. After proceeding for half an hour, the mountains 
close in on the left, leaving a narrow marshy plain ; and at the 
end of two hours and a half from Tripolitza, the traveller 
reaches the khan of Francobrysso, so named from the fount at 
which, close by, " the Alpheus again breaks out, and accompa- 
nies the road across the plain, sometimes crossing it most incon- 
veniently without a bridge." A marshy valley with a stream 
soon after falls into the plain from the right. Ten minutes fur- 
ther, the stream is crossed at a bridge, where rises on the right, 
" a peninsular rock with a cave, a ruined chapel, and a single 
tree," on the summit of which are the walls and other vestiges 
of the ancient Asea. In the marsh, to the left, are the founda- 
tions of a temple. At the southern extremity of the plain. Sir 
W. Gell arrived at the edge of a marshy lake, covered with in- 
numerable wild fowl. This he passed by a long, low, narrow 
bridge, " at the end of which were four square pilasters, seera- 

* See page 239. In the Itinerary, this lake is simply mentioned as " one 
of the receptacles of the Alpheus." The plain is occasionally inundated. 

t The second of these is described in the Itinerary as " a steep, winding hill, 
with three roads of different ages." 



MODERN GREECE. 277 

ingly intended as the supports of the tiled roof of a kiosk, xinder 
which some pasha or other great personage had reposed while 
the ducks were shot hy his attendants." This, however, he 
remarks, may be only a winter lake, as there is a well near the 
kiosk. " Here the water of the Alpheus sinks for the last time; 
and the natives pretend, that a straw, thrown into the lake at the 
katabathron or vortex, has been observed to rise again on the 
southern side of the mountain of Chimbarou, which we now be- 
gan to ascend. On our left was a little village called Anemo- 
douri, and above it, a ruined tower."* 

The summit of Chimbarou, which is reached alter a very 
steep and difficult ascent, is crowned with a large ruined church, 
dedicated to the Panagia, and commands an extensive view. On 
the right is discerned the whole plain of Megalopolis, bounded 
by the beautiful ridge of Tetragi. Leondari is seen in front, 
surmounted by the whole northern extremity of the lofty Pende- 
dactylos with its five points, while, on the left, its branches bound 
the beginning of the valley, which at length expands into the 
plain of Mistra. On the southern declivity of Chimbarou, which 
is now descended by a zig-zag road, remains of gardens and 
broken tiles are found at the end of twenty-five minutes, near 
which the Alpheus again rises from some copious springs on the 
right of the road. To the left is a village beneath a hill, seem- 
ingly the site of an ancient fort. After descending an hour 
tlirough a beautiful forest of oaks, the village of Rapsomata is 
seen on the right, and half an hour further, the road passes over 
the site of a small ancient city. Not long after, the travel- 
ler crosses another of the branches of the Alpheus, in a country 
beautifully spotted with oaks, while the projections from the ibot 
of the mountain produce the most pleasing alternation of valleys 
and eminences. The glens are watered by pretty rivulets flow- 
ing to the Alpheus on the right. After crossing several of these 
little streams, the traveller ascends the hill of Leondari to the 
town, distant from Tripolitza, six hom-s and twenty-three minutes. 
On proceeding to Sinano, the traveller again descends the hill 
of Leondari, and in three quarters of an hour, crosses the 



* In the Itinerary, the fount of Alpheus is said to rise at the western foot of 
Chimparou. The direct distance to Megabopolis from this fount, is onl}^ 1 hour 
28 min., Leondari being out of the road. The route is thus given. From Si- 
nano to Risvan Aga, crossing two brooks and passing a church with vestiges 
of a temple, 22 min. To Chapoga village, 24 niin. Thence, crossing a 
brook, in 15 min., to vestiges on an eminence and ruins of a little monastery, 
with a well : the place is called Palaio Rapsomata. Here, a road runs left two 
hours to Marmora, a village two hours from the khan of Francobryssi. In 
15 minutes more, the Fount. 



278 MODERN GREECE. 

Alpheus, here called the Megalopotamo. Another forty-five 
minutes brings him to the ditch which surrounded the ancient 
walls of the city, near which are a fountain and a brick-kiln. Si- 
nano, the modern village, now consists of only the aga's pyrgo 
(tower) and a few cottages with hedges round them, situated 
just without the ancient walls, and exhibiting, when Mr. Dodwell 
was there, a neater appearance than similar habitations in most 
parts of Greece. If the Abbe Fourmont may be believed, it 
contained at the time that he travelled, no fewer than 800 
houses ; and he asserts that, a short time before his arrival, 
1,300 of the inhabitants had been swept off by the plague. If 
so, it must have been a considerable place. 

Of the city of Epaminondas, which was fifty stadia in cir- 
cuit, no vestiges of any importance remain, except the ruins of 
its once magnificent theatre, the largest in Greece. The diam- 
eter of the inner serai-circle, or orchestra, is 170 feet ; that of 
the whole was at least 1400. It was, as usual, constructed part- 
ly against the natural bank, and partly with artificial mounds. 
*' The koilon still remains, but the seats are covered with earth 
and overgrown with bushes. Part of the walls of ihe proscenium 
also are seen, facing the Helisson, which flows a few yards to 
the east. The remains of the temples are dubious ; some 
masses of walls and scattered blocks of columns indicate their 
situations. The soil is much raised, and probably conceals sev- 
eral remains of the city." Its most valuable sculptures, however, 
were conveyed to the Laconian capital by Cleomenes, and great 
part of the city was destroyed by the Spartan conqueror. In 
the time of Strabo, it was nearly deserted. 

From the theatre, which is to the west of the modern village, 
a fine view is obtained of the site of the city, which was divided 
by the river Helisson (now Barbitza) into two portions. " The 
line of the wall of fortification was erected, I think," Sir W. 
Oell says, " like that of Mantinea, in a circular form, by Epam- 
inondas, when he endeavoured to create an Arcadian city, which 
should be capable of withstanding the force of Lacedaemon. 
His plan failed in the end, very possibly from the means 
employed to ensure a great population, which, had it been found 
on the spot, or transported thither from anotlier country, might 
have answered the purpose. Epaminondas seems to have for- 
gotten that his community was composed of the most discordant 
elements, consisting of the inhabitants of many of the smaller 
Arcadian cities, most of which had probably some ancient quarrel 
with their neighbours, and all of whom were compelled very un- 
willingly, by an arbitrary decree, to quit their native fastnesses, 



% 



MODERN GREECE. 279 

to settle in the new city thus weakened by internal dissension. 
Megalopolis was exposed also to the additional misfortune of its 
inhabitants jaelding to the temptation of trusting to their last re- 
source, that of fleeing to their ancient abodes, for which the 
presence of a ngorous enemy would furnish the excuse. It is 
also to be doubted, whether fortifications constructed only by the 
hand of man, could be supposed a secure defence against an 
enemy in any times. A spot might have been chosen which 
better united convenience with safety. The object of the great 
Theban could not have been the creation of a conquering, but of 
an opposing city, and for tliis purpose a hill would have served 
better than the plain. Generally speaking, it will, I think, be 
found, that no capital has risen to superior eminence, still less to 
tlie glories of foreign conquest, which has not been situated in or 
near an extensive plain. Hills and rocks render more defensi- 
ble the cities of the mountains, but it is perhaps for that very 
reason tliat they are not under the necessity of extending their 
boundaries, and throwing to a distance their frontiers. Rome, 
Constantinople, and other cities, might of course be cited as 
examples of the contrary ; but it is scarcely necessary to add, 
that the ' immortal hills' must be searched for by those who wish 
to see them, and that in either case, they are not elevations above 
the plains of Latium and Thrace, but the banks which torrents 
have separated from each other in their descent to the Tyber 
and the Bosphonis. 

" There is even at present no want of cultivation, nor of vil- 
lages, in this most celebrated Arcadian plain, and nothing can be 
more beautifully diversified with fields and groves. The Nomian 
mountains on the west, near Karitena, and the great Mount Ellen- 
itza, a part of Taygetus, on the east, with Chimparou and its 
range, and Maenalus, on the north, furnish abundant streams, the 
banks of which are fringed witli plane trees, and which all fall 
into the Alpheus. The range of hills uniting Ellenitza with 
Tetrauzi on the south, toward the ancient Messenia, is not lofty, 
but very prettily spotted with wood. The village of Isari is seen 
high seated on Tetrauzi, and the white tower of Delli Hassan, 
near which Mr. Dodwell found the ruins of an ancient city, 
catches the eye in the plain below ; but the chief object is the 
lofty peak of Korounies, or Sonrias to Kastro.^^* 

The Helisson, which is a small but rapid river, had its source, 
according to Pausanias, at a village of the same name, and flowing 
through Megalopolis, united with the Alpheus after a course of 

* Narrative, pp. 176 — 9. 



■280 MODERN GREECE. 

thirty stadia. Its banks, Mr. Dodwell says, are picturesque, 
being shaded with oaks and plane-trees, and it contains fine trout 
and eels. As it ^s very low in summer, many relics of 
antiquity might possibly be recovered without difficulty from its 
bed. Medals are often found. Those of Megalopolis are com- 
mon ; namely, a silver one with a head of Jupiter on one side, 
and on the reverse. Pan sitting on mount Lycseus, holding a 
branch in his left hand, and with an eagle on his right knee ; and 
a copper one, having the head of Jupiter, and on the reverse, 
the usual figure of Pan, with a bow in his right hand, and an 
eagle at his feet. The confederate coins of Arcadia are also 
common : they have generally the head of Jupiter or of Pan, 
widi the fistula on the reverse. Inscriptions and other antiquities 
might also, Mr. Dodwell says, be recovered from among the 
ruins by diligent search. The pyrgos of the aga is partly con- 
structed of inscribed marbles. 

Twenty minutes to the S.E. of Sinano, crossing two sti'eams 
in the way, are remains of a small Doric tem.ple, now converted 
into a church. Part of the cella is seen, upon which the church 
is built. Near it He some fragments of columns, with some 
fluted pilasters and unornamented metopes. The distance from 
Megalopolis, (about seven stadia,) nearly corresponds to the sit- 
uation assigned by Pausanias to the temple of the mania, or 
Eumenides, erected on the spot where Orestes lost his senses on 
account of the murder of his mother. Still further in this direc- 
tion, after crossing a small stream, passing through the village of 
Erisvanaga, and then crossing another rivulet, Mr. Dodwell ob- 
served some ancient vestiges ; and half a mile beyond, is a small 
hill or natural mound, on which are some imperfect remains. 
He then proceeded through a village called Chappoga, near 
which are some ancient traces, and crossed here the fifth stream 
from Megalopolis. All these streams originate in the hills which 
rise on the eastern side of the plain, and after a short and 
winding course, mingle their waters with those of the Helisson 
or the Alpheius. From this place, Mr. Dodwell ascended a hill 
covered with oaks, to the Kalybia of Dabano, and in twenty min- 
utes more, reached Palaio Rapsomata, seated on an eminence, 
on which are only a few imperfect foundations. " An hour and 
a half from hence, near the foot of the hills which bound the 
plain, a large source of water, called Marmorea, issues from the 
rock, and is probably the Kgovvoi mentioned by Pausanias."* 

From Megalopolis, roads branched off to Sparta, to Messene, 
to Tegea, and to Olympia ; and remains of them, M. Pouque- 

*Dodwell,vol.ii. p. 377, 



MODERN GREECE. 281 

ville affirms, are still to be found in the directions indicated by 
the classic Topographer. Its ancient importance would seem to 
be attested by the circumstance, that all tlie military roads of 
Peloponnesus terminate at this spot as a centre. About two 
hours from Sinano, and twenty minutes from the village of Stala, 
is a ruined site, now called Agios Georgios, which Mr. Dodwell 
considers to be undoubtedly the site of Lykosoura, — according 
to Pausanias, " the most ancient city of the most ancient people 
in the world."* Its walls^ the learned Traveller says, manifest 
signs of the remotest antiquity. The ruins are thus described. 

" The acropolis stood upon a fine precipice of an oblong form, 
the extremities facing nearly north and south. The western side 
is inaccessible, and the other side, which faces the plain of Me- 
galopolis, is supported by a double terrace-wall, composed of 
rough blocks like the walls of Tiryns. The gateway is visible, 
facing the south, but its only remains consist of the foundations 
and some hewn blocks lying on the spot. Within the acropolis 
are two ruined churches and several /rus^a of unfluted columns 
of a dark-coloured marble, with some architraves and a Doric 
capital. The largest diameter of the columns is only one foot 
ten mches. A few hundred yards to the S.E. of the acropolis, 
is an eminence covered with bushes, which may well be sup- 
posed to conceal some interesting remains. Several blocks of 
plain columns, and a ruined church, are the only visible objects. 
To the north of this is another small elevation, where some frag- 
ments of plain columns, and some fluted columnar pilasters and 
triglyphs, evince the remains of a Doric temple. The whole is 
fallen to the ground, and, amongst tlie ruins of the cella, is a mass 
of white marble, which was probably a statue, but it is too much 
shattered for any form to be perceived. Between this and the 
acropolis are the remains of a bath or cistern, about 40 feet in 
length and 10 in breadth, composed of square blocks, and well 
preserved. A few feet above it is a small spring, which origi- 
nally flowed through the bath by two apertures that still remain. 
Several large blocks lie scattered in the vicinity, which was evi- 
dently one of the most ornamented parts of the city. To tlie 
east of the acropolis are remains of another Doric building, con- 
sisting of fragments of columns and pilasters nearly buried. The 
principal part of the town occupied an undulating plain to the 
east of the acropolis. It is difficult to form any certain conclu- 
sions with respect to its size, as none of the walls, except those 

* So the Arcadians styled themseh'es : 

" Jlnte Jovem genitum terras habuisse ferentur 
Arcades, et Luna gens prior ilia fuit." Ovid. 

36 



28£ MODERN GREECE. 

of the acropolis, have been preserved ; but it appears to have 
extended over a circuit of two miles.* 

" About twenty minutes from the ruins of Agios Georgios, to- 
wards the N.W., and near the village of Stala, is a kephalo- 
brussi, rushing out of the mountain in a deep glen, and forming a 
rapid stream, which finds its way by the ruins of the city, and 
entering the plain of Megalopolis to the N. of Delli Hassan, 
unites with the Alpheus. Another rivulet of more considerable 
size rises near the village of Issari, and running to the S.W. of 
Agios Georgios, also joins the Alpheus. One of these is proba- 
bly the Plataniston. The pastures of these mountains retain 
much of their ancient celebrity ; and numerous goats and sheep 
are seen on the hills where Pan fed his flocks. The mountains 
of the Melpeianf region resound on all sides with the pipe which 
the god is said to have invented on the spot. The pastoral inha- 
bitants of the surrounding villages are a hardy and handsome 
race, evincing a spirit of probity and independence, and exercis- 
ing hospitality and kindness to strangers. "J 

We must now prepare to take leave of the once populous and 
classic Arcadia, the mother-land of pastoral poetry and romance ; 
and returning to the Turkish capital, proceed to describe the in- 
teresting remains which occur in the direction of the route 

FROM TRIPOLITZA TO ARGOS. 

The ruins of Tegea, one of the three cities from which Tri- 
politza is supposed to have been built, are found at the village of 
Piali (or^ Pegale), about an hour eastward from that city. Sir 
W. Gell speaks of it as " one of the cities of Greece which, in 
its present state, presents the fewest objects of curiosity above 

* Notwithstanding the i-emote antiquity of some of these remains, the work 
of demolition has but recently been completed. Only three years liefore, the 
aga of Delli Hassan (a village twenty minutes distant, at the foot of the wood- 
ed hills that joins Lycseus) had dilapidated the most perfect of the temples and 
several other ruins, for the purpose of building a new pyrgos with the precious 
materials. Unwilling to have his quarry detected, or his ravages ex^posed, he 
attempted to persuade Mr. Dodwell that there were no ancient remains in this 
direction. Delli Hassan is 70 minutes from Sinano on the road to Karitena. 
(See Gell's Itinerary, p. 101.) Several ancient vestiges occur on this route, 
and between the village of Cyparissia (three quarters of an hour from Delli 
Hassan,) and the foot of Diophorti, is the village of Mavrias, " near which is 
a valley now called Bathi Rema (the deep glen,) where the natives assert that 
fire often issues from the earth near a fountain. The same story is told by 
Pausanias, who calls the place Bathos." 

t On approaching the bridge of Karitena, a village called Florio is seen on 
the left, which, Sir W. Gell says, nearly corresponds to the ancient Melpea. 

t Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 394—7. 



MODERN GREECE. 283 

ground ;" but an excavation, he thinks, would be very produc- 
tive. " It is probable that there is an immense treasure of sculp- 
ture in this place ; for the soil, being all ploughed, so as to have 
left no trace of the walls, must have risen so much as to cover 
the ruins, before Tripolitza had become of sufficient consequence 
to require the decorations that might occasion the pillage of the 
marbles." It must be recollected, however, that marbles are 
pillaged for other purposes than decoration, — for building-mate- 
rials and to convert into lime. Mr. Dodwell observed that the 
soil is apparently much higher than the original level, but the 
walls, he remarks, have probably been employed in building the 
modern city. 

" The first ruins that the traveller comes to, occupy a gentle 
eminence, on which is the church of Agios Sosti, which has pro- 
bably replaced some ancient temple. On the outer wall is a 
fragmented inscription, and, within the church, a Doric capital. 
Not far from this is an elevation crowned with the ruins of a 
large church called Palaio Episkopi, apparently built with the 
remains of a Doric temple, and situated on the original founda- 
tion. Several triglyphs, ^rttsto of columns, and other architec- 
tural and sculptured fragments, besides some broken inscriptions, 
are visible on the walls. Some hundred yards from this church 
is the village of Piali, with a few remains of the great temple of 
Minerva Alea, built by Skopas of Paros. It was composed of 
the three orders of Grecian architecture. Above the Doric was 
the Corinthian, surmounted by the Ionic. There are fragments 
of the different orders, and several large masses of Doric co- 
lumns of white marble, but the greater part is buried.* Their 
size may have contributed to their preservation, as they were too 
heavy to be removed. The two other orders were no doubt 
smaller, and have been carried to Tripolitza, as very few frag- 
ments of them remain. We are informed by Pausanias, that this 
temple was one of the largest and most ornamented in the Pe- 
loponnesus. The Calydonian hunt was represented on its front 
tympanon, while the posticum exhibited the battle of Telephos 
and Achilles in the plain of Kaikos. Augustus, to punish the 
Tegeans for their attachment to the interest of Antony, deprived 
the temple of the old ivory statue of the goddess, which he sent 
to Rome. He also removed the tusks of the Calydonian boar, 
and left the Tegeans no other relic but his skin."f 

* A Doric capital about five feet in diametei', Sir W. Gell found in use as the 
mouth of a well. 

t Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 418 — 20. The coins of Tegea are well knovpn to the 
numismatic collector. They generally represent the galeated head of Miner- 



284 MODERN GREECE. 

Mr. Dodwell observed no remains of the magnificent marble 
theatre built by Perseus, the last king of Macedon. If any 
traces exist, they are probably to be sought for at the hill of Pa- 
laio Episkopi, or that of Agios Sosti. Oa one of these must 
have stood tue acropolis. The plain of Tegea is composed of 
rich arable land, and is surrounded with mountains, except in 
" two narrow slips," or openings, one of which leads southward 
towards Mistra, and the other to the plain of Mantineia. 

The ruins of the latter city are found at a place called Palseo- 
poli, seven miles from Tripolitza, — a ride of two hours. The 
road lies over the plain in a direction nearly north. About half 
way, the foot of a projecting mountain advances on the road from 
the left, forming the natural boundary between the territories of 
Tegea and Mantineia. Here are found a ruined church, with 
some ancient tiles scattered about, and traces of the wall wliich 
ran across the valley, composed of rough blocks apparently of 
high antiquity. On the acclivity is a Wallachian village, which, 
Sir W. Gell suggests, may possibly have been the spot to which 
Epaminondas retired after he was wounded, to witness the end 
of the conflict. The hill appears to be the Mount Alesion of 
Pausanias. On the right the monastery of Tsipiana is seen on 
the mountain. The marshy plain of Mantineia opens beyond 
the pass, and the road, inclining to the right, crosses at a bridge 
the sluggish waters of the Ophis, so called from its serpentine 
meanderings, which surround the walls of the ancient city. "The 
river," says Sir W. Gell, " runs directly against the base of the 
curtain, there divides, and, performing the circuit of the exactly 
circular walls with their 116 towers and eight gates, is re-united 
on the opposite side, and, after a short course, falls into a kata- 
bathron, or chasm, and disappears.* The traces of a bank are 
yet visible, by which a besieging army raised the waters so high, 
that not only the city was inundated, but that part of the upper 
walls which consisted of unbaked bricks, resting upon the mas- 
sive stone foundations, fell into the flood. This is, I believe, 
usually taken for a romance, but the vestiges confirm the histo- 
ry.f The lines of the streets are yet in some places visible, as 

va Alea, sometimes a bearded head with a diadem, or the figure of the god- 
dess at full length, with that of a warrior. A scarce coin of this city exhibits 
Telephos receiving nourishment from a deer. The inscriptions are generally 
Aleos and Tegeatan. 

* But for this subterraneous vent, the stream of the Ophis, together with the 
waters that fall from Artemision, would inundate the plain. 

t These walls resisted, even better than stone, the impulse of warlike en- 
gines, but were not proof against the effects of water. The story is, that Age- 
sipolis, King of Sparta, forming a ditch round the town, caused the river Ophis 



MODERN GREECE. 28d 

is the theatre near the centre, which is not less than 213 feet in 
diameter. There are several pools in the enclosure. The ra- 
dius of the circle which would describe the wall of Mantineia, 
might be 2000 feet in length. I think there is reason to believe, 
diat Epaminondas laid out his other Arcadian city of Megalopo- 
lis on a similar plan, though on a smaller scale. The site is a 
perfectly dead flat, and the effect produced on these plains by 
the streams falling into chasms, instead of finding their way 
through valleys, is, that the mountains rise as abruptly from the 
flat edge of tire marsh, as rocks rise from the surface of the sea. 
Near the walls is a little monastery on a conical hill, called Chry- 
soule, where the most ancient city is said to have stood." 

Mantineia was richly decorated with public edifices. It had 
eight temples, besides a theatre, a stadium, and a hippodrome. 
Except the imperfect remains of the theatre, the walls of which 
are similar to those round the town, none of the sites of the an- 
cient buildings can be identified, every thing, except the city 
walls, being in a state of total dilapidation. The coins of the 
city are not scarce : they bear the image of Neptune, their tute- 
lary deity, and sometimes the head of Minerva, Jupiter, or Anti- 
nous.* 

The Mantineian plain is enclosed, towards the south-east, by 
the rugged heights of Parthenion and Artemision, which sepa- 
rate it from the plain of Argos. On the north-west, a line of 
rocky hills separates it from that of Kalpaki, a village two hours 
and a quarter from Mantineia, on the site of the ancient Orcho- 
raenos. The road from Tripolitza is, for the first three miles, 
the same as that to Mantineia. It then passes the katabathron, 
where the waters of the plain fall into an abyss, and a quarter of 
an hour further,^ ascends a valley to the village of Kapsa, con- 
sisting of 'sixty houses and a church. After passing the vestiges 
of the tower and wall which once guarded the pass, the traveller 
quits the Kalavrita road, to ascend to the large village of Liva- 
diou,f situated at the foot of the mountains on the left, but suffi- 

to flow into it, and dissolved the fabric of the walls, as Cimon, son of Miltiades, 
had done before with the earthen walls of Eion, on the river Strymon. The 
walls which are seen at present, Mr. Dodwell considers as of later date, having 
been built, probably, after the battle of Leuktra. " They are of the same 
style as those of Messene, and exhibit an interesting and very perfect specimen 
of Grecian fortification." 

* Gell's Narrative, p. 137. Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 421 — 4. 

+ Written by Sir W. Cell and Mr. Dodwell, Lebadi, Lividi, Lebidi, Lebidiouj 
and Libadiu. The thermometer here, on Sir W. Cell's arrival (April 3), stood 
at 28°, the same as at Tripolitza in the morning. From Livadiou, it is four 
hours to Betena, five hours to Davia, ten hours to DimitzaBa, four hours and 
a half from Tripolitza. 



286 MODERN GREECE. 

ciently elevated to overlook the plain of Orchomenos, which in 
this part, takes from it its modern name. The lofty mountain to 
the west of this village is covered with pines. It extends to both 
the plains of Orchomenos and Mantineia. On the other side of 
the range, on a much higher level, is situated the town of Betena, 
near the ancient Methydrion. From Livadiou, the traveller has 
again to descend, and crossing the road to Kalavrita, which he 
leaves to the left, traverses the marshy plain, and in less than an 
hour, reaches the modern village of Kalpaki (or Kallipachi,) situa- 
ted on the south side of an insulated hill, which fills up a pass be- 
tween a mountain called Roussi, and the eastern chain of Mount 
Artemisius.* 

" The situation of Orchomenos was fine and commanding, 
running up to the summit of its hill, which was crowned with the 
castle, whence the walls and towers ran down to the sides of the 
plain, leaving the citadel as the apex of a triangle of about half a 
mile each way." The hill resembles Mount Ithome in form, 
though of far inferior height, being steep on all sides, and flat on 
the summit. When the snows of winter melt, and the lake 
which extends on the north of the ruins overflows, the hill is al- 
most surrounded with water ; and it is called an island by one 
ancient writer. -j- The walls were fortified with square towers. 
In some places they are well preserved, and the most ancient 
parts are in " the rough Tirynthian style." The modern vil- 
lage is situated upon the ruins of the lower town. The cottage 
occupied by Mr. Dodwell stood upon the remains of a Doric 
temple of white marble, small, but apparently very ancient. 
Large masses were scattered about, and some countrymen whom 
the Author employed to excavate, dug out some elegant Doric 
capitals in perfect preservation. He earnestly recommends fu- 
ture travellers to prosecute the researches which he had not time 
to pursue. There is a fine fountain below the village. Near it 
is a white marble lion, in an indifferent style, and under the na- 
tural size. Below the fountain is a ruined church, evidently oc- 
cupying the site of an ancient building of the Doric order, of 
small dimensions, — probably a mausoleum. 

" Orchomenos," remarks Mr. Dodwell, " seems to have been 

* Mr. Dodwell reached Kalpaki in two hours and a quarter from Mantineia. 
On reaching the foot of the hills which rise from the southern side of the plain 
of Orchomenos, he came to the ancient road, paved with larg'e stones ; " of 
which," he says, " though broken and full of holes, we were glad to make use, 
instead of traversing the marshy ground through which the summer road 
passes." 

t Dionysius of Halicarnassus. This lake, like most others in this part, has 
no visible outlet, and increases or diminishes with the season. 



MODERN GREECE. 28? 

u place of little consequence in the time of Pausanias ; but it is 
singular, that there ai'e still the remains of several buildings, 
which appear to have been temples, though he mentions only 
two. Besides the two already noticed, the church of the Panagia, 
which is situated at the southern foot of the acropolis, is entirely 
composed of the remains of a Doric temple, among which are 
triglyphs, plain metopa, and fluted frusta of w^hite marble, but of 
small proportions. Here are also some fragmented aniefia:a of 
terra cotta, depicted with the usual foliage of a dark red hue. 
Near the church is a small spring. Further down in the plain, 
tovsrards the lake, is another ruined church, constructed v\ath an- 
cient blocks of stone and marble ; and near it is an Ionic capital. 
A few paces from this are the remains of an ancient tower. 
Still further, towards the village called Rush, is another church, 
in the walls of which are some marble triglyphs. A few hun- 
dred paces to the west of Kalpaki, there is a heap of square 
blocks of stone, of large size ; and further in the plain are other 
similar remains : indeed, everything seems to evince that Orcho- 
menos was a strong and extensive city, and sumptuously decora- 
ted with ornamental edifices, which Pausanias has not described 
with his usual diligence."* 

For the sake of describing the remains of these three cities in 
the immediate neighbourhood of Tripolitza, we have wandered 
from our proposed route. The road to Argos, on leaving the 
Tegean plain, crosses a very steep summit, and descends by a 
zig-zag causey into the valley of Hysiae. It then passes the vil- 
lages of Agios Georgios and Araithyrea, and runs across the 
plain to the city. The road from Mantineia to Argos leads, in 
three quarters of an hour, to the plain of Chipiana. An hour 
further is the monastery of Chipiana, on a mountain. A steep 
ascent of an hour leads to the summit, on which gooseberry 
bushes were found growing wild. Two hours more are occu- 
pied in traversing and descending the mountain. In two hours 
further, the traveller crosses a large torrent, and in half an hour 
beyond, enters the plain of Argos. This road, being both steep 
and bad, is seldom used : it occupies nearly the same time as 
the direct road from Tripolitza, viz. nine hours and twenty-three 
minutes ; but the latter, lying chiefly over the plains, may, with- 
out an attendant on foot, be performed in less than eight hours.f 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 427. t Gell's Itin. pp. 173, 4. 



288 MODERN GREECE. 



ARGOS. 



The most striking view of the Argive plain and capital is ob- 
tained in the approach from Neinea, or from Tiryns. Mr. Dod- 
well, who arrived there from Corinth, by the pass of Tretos, 
thus describes his entrance on what he pronounces to be " the 
most interesting part of the Peloponnesus, the ancient territory 
of Argolis." 

" We began to descend by a badly paved way, and came to 
a clear and copious spring, which, forming a small but rapid 
stream, rushes down the rocky decli^aty of the hill into the plain 
of Argos. At the outlet of the glen, we experienced a sudden 
burst of one of those magic prospects which occur so often in 
this beautiful and classic region. The view extended over tne 
rich and even plain of Argos, with its capital and pointed citadel, 
beyond which the lake of Lerna glimmers faintly in the view. 
The ancient Mycenae is observed on the left or south-east side of 
the plain. Further down are seen the ruins of Tiryns, and at 
the southern extremity of the plain, Nauplia and its lofty acro- 
polis rise conspicuously from the sea. The north-west side of 
the plain is bounded by the towering heights which branch from 
Mainalos and Zarex ; and the south-east side by a lower and 
less precipitous range, of which Mount Euboia, near Mycense, is 
the principal. The horizon is terminated by the blue line of the 
Argolic Gulf. 

" We descended to the plain of Argos, and near the foot of the 
hill, observed the traces of a thick wall. " The plain is a perfect 
flat, composed of rich soil well cultivated and mottled with villa- 
ges. Several ploughs drawn by oxen, were tilling the ground. 
We observed great quantities of wild geese and plovers flying 
about. We passed to the right of a village named Phikti, where 
there are some ancient remains, and a square tower composed of 
large stones. Our road crossed some small torrent-beds, at pre- 
sent dry, but evidently at times filled with impetuous streams. 
We passed by a low rocky hill and a church, and went through 
a straggling village called Kutsopodi. Further on, we crossed a 
small stream, and beyond it, a great torrent-bed called Zeria. 
This is ' Father Inachos.'* A tumulus, i composed of small 
stones, is seen upon its bank, a few paces from which are some 
large blocks. 

* " Pater Inachus" — " ingens Inachus." — Statius. 



MODERN GREECE. 289 

"In approaching Argos, the view was particulai'ly grand. 
The rocks of the acropoUs rose close on our right hand, with a 
monastery perched upon the pinnacle of a steep precipice. On 
our left was a round eminence of moderate elevation, probably 
the Phoronaian hill. Before us was the town of Argos, with the 
distance closed by the plain and gulf. This once celebrated 
city is at present not half so populous as Athens. Its inhabitants 
do not exceed five tliousand, the majority of whom are Greeks. 
Argos occupies a perfect flat, at the south-eastern foot of the an- 
cient acropolis. The houses are small and low, but, intermin- 
gled with numerous gardens, are dispersed over a considerable 
space, and exhibit the semblance of a large straggling village. 
This city contains two mosques and many churches, and is go- 
verned by a bey, who has forty villages under his command.''^ 
Most of the ancient edifices, with which Ai-gos was so copiously 
furnished and splendidly adorned^ have so entirely disappeared, 
that, on entering the town, the traveller is inclined to ask, Where 
are the thirty temples, the costly sepulchres, the gymnasium, the 
stadium, and the numerous monuments and statues that Pausa- 
nias has described '? They have for ever vanished, for, of most 
of them, not a trace is to be found. The silent destruction of 
time, or the fierce ravage of barbarism, has levelled every thing 
with the ground, except the theatre, the acropolis, and some un- 
interesting masses of Roman architecture. 

" The theatre is at the south-eastern foot of the acropolis. 
The seats, which are cut in the rock, are well preserved, and it 
is of magnificent proportions. In front of the theatre is a large 
Roman wall of brick, at present named Palaio Tekkie.\ We 
entered the house of a Turk near the ruins, and were conducted 
to some subterraneous vaulted chambers, paved with coarse mo- 
saic of black and white colours. Our progress in a passage was 
stopped by a modern wall ; they assured us that it continued a 
long way under ground, and terminated at some other brick 
ruins, where a similar mosaic pavement is also seen. ApoUodo- 
rus, Pausanias, and others, mention the subterraneous edifice of 
Acrisius, and the brazen Thalamos, in which his daughter Danae 
was confined. In the time of Pausanias, it contained the monu- 
ment of Krotopos, and the temple of the Kresian Bacchus. Not 
being able to proceed any further in this passage, we returned to 

* A French traveller (Des Mouceaux) who visited Greece in 1668, by order 
of Louis XIV., says, there were in his time, sixty villages in the plain of 
Argos. 

t " Probably a part of the caitellum (x^oipiov) which was near to the theatre 
called Criterion, once a court or tribunal of judgment." — Dr. E. D. Clarke. 
37 



296 MODEilN GREECE. 

the theatre, near which we observed a fine mass of wall of the 
well-ioined polygonal construction. Two of the blocks 6re 
traced with inscriptions, but they are so corroded, that only a 
few letters are legible. This ruin is at present called Limiarti. 
A little higher up the acropolis hill is a brick ruin, built upon a 
flat hewn rock. One of the internal walls contains a round niche 
for a statue, which an excavation might -probably bring to light. 
Some years after I had made the present tour in Greece, Veli 
Pasha, Governor of the Morea, caused an excavation to be made 
near the theatre, and discovered sixteen marble statues and busts, 
in good style and preservation, particularly one of Venus and 
another of ^sculapius. They were not quite half the size of 
life. Several gold medals of the Emperor Valens were also 
found in a sepulchre near the sam.e spot. 

" The acropolis stands upon a pointed rocky acclivity, of con- 
siderable elevation and great natural strength. The walls and 
towers make an impressive appearance from below ; but, on ap- 
proaching these structures, the traveller is disappointed to find 
the greater part of them composed of sm,all stones and cement, 
the work of the middle ages. We ascended by a winding path, 
and observed very few traces in our way ; though Pausanias 
mentions a stadium and five temples within the citadel, or on the 
way up to it. Of these temples the most celebrated was that of 
Minerva, containing the tomb of Acrisius. There are still upon 
the acropolis, some fine reirfflins, of polygonal construction, wliich 
are probably the Cyclopian walls alluded to by Euripides ; as 
we have no reason for supposing that the well-joined polygons 
were not included in that denomination, as well as the specimens 
of the rough and less complicated Tyrinthian style. There are 
several remains of ancient walls on the acropolis of Argos, coh- 
sisting of the second style or well-joined polygons, but not the 
slightest traces of the rough Tyrinthian style. Had the walls 
been originally composed of these rough and durable masses, it 
is next to impossible that they should so completely have disap- 
peared ; and I have no doubt that the walls which exist at the 
present day, are the same which Euripides attributes to the Cy- 
clopians. The walls encircle the summit of the acropolis ; and 
the modern castle, composed of bastions and towers built with 
small stones and mortar, is erected on the ancient remains, in 
which the lower parts of some round and square towers are visi- 
ble. The acropolis is entirely deserted, and without inhabitants. 
It commands a view of great interest and extent, but seen from 
too great a height for picturesque effect. The whole plain of 
Argos, with the capital, villages, and gulf, with Mycenae, Tiryns, 



MODERN GREECE. 291 

and Nauplia, may be discriminated as in a map. The Table 
Mountain near Nemea, is also visible. We descended by 
another way, and in halt" an hour, reached the theatre. 

" There were two citadels at Argos, of which tlie principal, 
above tlie theatre, was called Larissa and Aspis : it owed its 
former name to the daughter of Pelasgos, and its latter to the 
game of the shield, which was here solemnised. The second 
fortress was on a rocky eminence of moderate height, to the 
north-east of the Larissa : this must be the hill of Phoroneus, as 
there is no other elevation, in Argos or its immediate vicinity, 
adapted for the position of a fort. The monastery, which is sit- 
uated upon a steep rock, on the north side of the Larissa, appa- 
rently occupies the site of an ancient temple. Under the monas- 
tery are some caverns containing spring water, which probably 
finds its way, by subterraneous passages, to the lower town, where 
it supplies the wells and fountains. Pausanias mentions a temple 
at Ai'gos, sacred to the Cephissos, under which that river ran. 
The temple of Apollo Deiradiotes was in the way up to the La- 
rissa, and situated in a spot called Deiras, from its position on a 
ridge of rock, which answers to the situation of the monastery. 
Fourmont describes a subterraneous inlet, which, he says, pene- 
trates 3000 paces in the Larissa rock, being cut through a dark- 
coloured stone full of petrified shells : he says, that the passage 
is perfectly straight, but has recesses on each side, not opposite 
each other.* Plutarch informs us, that Cleomenes opened the 
subterraneous passages under Aspis, and thus entered the city."f 

Dr. E. D. Clarke, who visited this part of Greece in ISOl, 
speaks of the theatre as a very remarkable structure, differing 
from every other which he saw in Greece, in having two wings, 
with seats, one on either side of the cavea ; " so that it might be 
described as a triple coilon.^' For what purpose these side ca- 
vities were designed, he considers as doubtful. Within the cavea, 
sixty-four seats were then remaining, the height of each being 
thirteen inches. "Above the theatre was the Hieron of Venus, 
and this," adds the learned Traveller, " we certainly found. 
The site is now occupied by a Greek chapel, but it contains the 
remains of columns, whose capitals are of the most ancient Co- 
rinthian order; a style of building unknown in our country, 
scai'cely a model of it having been seen in England, although it 
far exceeds in beauty and simplicity, the gaudj^ and crowded 

* From this account, it would seem to have been a necropolis, 
t Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 214—21. 



292 MODERN GREECE. 

foliage of the later Corinthian."* At the foot of the hill of the 
acropolis, Dr. Clarke found, he says, " one of the most curious 
tell-tale remains yet discovered among the vestiges of Pagan 
priestcraft : it was nothing less than one of the oracular shrines 
of Argos alluded to by Pausanias, laid open to inspection, like a 
toy which a child has broken in order that he may see the con- 
trivance whereby it was made to speak. A more interesting 
sight for modern curiosity can hardly be conceived to exist 
Among the ruins of any Grecian city. In its original state, it had 
been a temple : the further part from the entrance, where the 
altar was, being an excavation of the rock, and the front and 
roof constructed with baked tiles. The altar yet remains, and 
part of the fictile superstructure. But the most remarkable part 
of the whole, is a secret subterraneous passage, terminating be- 
hind the altar ; its entrance being at a considerable distance to- 
wards the right of a person facing the altar ; and so cunningly 
contrived as to have a small aperture, easily concealed, and level 
with the surface of the rock. This was barely large enough to 
admit the entrance of a single person, who having descended 
into the narrow passage, might creep along until he arrived im- 
mediately behind the centre of the altar, where, being hidden 
by some colossal statue or other screen, the sound of his voice 
would produce a most imposing effect among the humble vota- 
ries prostrate beneath, who were listening in silence upon the 
floor of the sanctuary. We amused ourselves for a few minutes 
by endeavouring to mimic the sort of solemn farce acted upon 
these occasions ; and as we delivered a mock oracle, ore rotun- 
da, from the cavernous throne of the altar, a reverberation, 
caused by the sides of the rock, afforded a tolerable specimen of 
the ' will of the gods,' as it was formerly made known to the 
credulous votaries of this now forgotten shrine. There were not 
fewer than twenty-five of these juggling places in Peloponnesus, 
and as many in the single province of BcBotia ; and surely it 
will never again become a question among learned men, whether 
the answers in them were given by the inspiration of evil spirits, 
or whether they proceeded from the imposture of priests : neither 
can it again be urged, that they ceased at the birth of Christ, 
because Pausanias bears testimony to their existence at Argos in 
the second century. "f 

* Sir W. Gell says, that ao inscription found in this chapel, proves it to be on 
the site of a temple of Venus. 

t Clarke's Travels, partii. § ii. ch. viii. The learned Author noticed the ap- 
pearance of a similar contrivance in an oracular cave at Telmessus in Asia 
Minor. — See Mod. Trav., Syria, &,c. vol. ii. p. 226. Mr. Swan says, the sub- 
terranean passage at Argos referred to by Dr. Clarke, is, in its present state,. 
about twenty feet in length. There is now no " fictile superstructure." 



MODERN GREECE. 293 

There are other appearances of subterraneous structures, Dr. 
Clarke adds, reqiiiriiig considerable attention. " Some of these 
are upon the hill : they are covered, like the Cycjopean gallery 
of Tiryns, with large approaching stones, meeting so as to form 
an arched way, which is visible only where these stones are 
open." These are apparently the vaulted chambers referred to by 
Mr. Dodwell. One of the mosques is said to have been erected 
with blocks brought Iron the Grove of Esculapius in Epidauria. 

The foundation of Argos by Inachus is supposed to have 
taken place about 232 years after that of Sicyon, corresponding 
to B.C. 1856. It was for a long time the most flourishing city 
in Greece, and was enriched with the commerce of Assyria and 
Egypt. As early as the time of Perseus, who, according to Sir 
Isaac Newton, flourished B.C. 1028, it was dependent on My- 
cenae, the king of which state is styled by Homer the " king of 
many islands, and of all Argos." In the time of Strabo, it still 
continued to be one of the first cities of the Peloponnesus ; and, 
owing to the fertility of its soil, and the advantages of its situa- 
tion, was probably never abandoned till the Turkish conquest. 
In the fourteenth century, Argos and Nauplia belonged to Pietro 
Cornaro, a noble Venetian ; on whose death, his widow ceded 
them to the Republic of Venice, (in 1388) for 2000 ducats of 
gold, and an annuity of 700 ducats. In the year 1397, Argos 
was taken by Bajazet, who destroyed its walls, and the place 
was for some time deserted. It was then rebuilt by the Vene- 
tians, from whom it was taken by the Turks in 1463 : it was 
subsequently recovered, but finally lost to the Turks in the same 
year. 

Of late years, the population of Argos has been slightly on 
the increase. Sir W. Gell says, the inhabitants were reckoned 
in 1805 at about 4000, (Dr. Clarke says 6000,) few of them, 
however, " of any sort of consequence, the whole, or nearly so, 
being Albanian peasants." Dr. Clarke describes it as a large, 
straggling place, full of cottages, with few good houses ; the 
roofs not flat, as in almost all parts of the East, but sloping, like 
those of the northern nations ; and he supposes the style may 
have been introduced by Albanian workmen. The houses were 
for the most part disposed in right lines, and fitted up with some 
comforts unknown in this part of the world, although in other 
respects wretched hovels. Each house had an oven, so that 
here, even the Albanians did not bake their unleavened cakes 
upon the hearth, as is usual in their cottages elsewhere. A 
school had lately been established here by a Greek priest. It 



294 MODERN GREECE. 

had formerly been customary for the principal families of Nau- 
plia and Argos to send their children to Athens for instruction. 

At the commencement of the Revolution, its fortress, which 
had long been neglected, was entirely out of repair, and unpro- 
vided with cannon. Yet, in July 1822, Demetrius Ypsilanti 
defended it for some days against the awkward efforts of the 
whole Turkish army under the Pasha of Drama.* On this oc- 
casion, above 200 shot are said to have been fired by the ene- 
my, of which ten only struck any part of the building. To the 
delay occasioned by this operation, the ultimate destruction of 
the Turkish army may in part be ascribed. f Its appearance, in 
April 1825, is thus described by Count Pecchio. 

" This capita] of the ancient monarchy of the ' fai'-reigning 
Agamemnon,' is at present a city containing at most 10,000 in- 
habitants. Its streets are wide and regular ; its houses princi- 
pally of wood, with projecting wooden porticoes, light and ele- 
gant. In this Revolution, first the Turks, and afterwards the 
Greeks, eagerly contributed to its destruction. It is now rising 
again from its ruins. The eparch, or prefect, with his counsel- 
lors, and the other chiefs of the city, took us to view the site 
chosen for the new university. Signer Warvaclii, a rich Greek 
merchant, left at his death a fund for this object, consisting of 
the interest of above 100,000 francs. The city has bought, to 
be built upon for the purpose, the large square space of a Turk- 
ish bazar, of which there remain only the surrounding walls, 
with a fountain in the centre. But what was my pleasure when 
I beheld a school for mutual instruction, built expressly by the 
Government, and opened only last December ! It is upon the 
plan of the Enghsh schools, but is too confined for the 200 chil- 
dren who frequent it. Attached to it is a dwelling for the mas- 
ter, who acquired the method of tuition at Bucharest, from Sig- 
ner Cleobulo ; the latter having been taught, as I apprehend, at 
the schools in Paris. The establishment is attended by both 
boys and girls, who are kept separate from each other. A lady 
of Scio, to remove the inconvenience of having them together, 
and to obtain at the same time an adequate education for the 
girls, proposes to build for them a school adjacent ', and already 
the means of effecting it are under consideration. We saw, 
besides, the rising walls of a Greek church, which is building 
within the ruins of a mosque, that had once been constructed 
from the wreck of a former Greek church ; while the latter, 
perhaps, owed its origin to the remains of an ancient temple. 

* See page 127. t Waddington, p. 143. 



MODERN GREECE. 295 

" On returning home, a young damsel poured water upon our 
hands. We then sat down, cross-legged, upon carpets, around 
a table covered with kid, lamb, pilaw, and coagulated milk, (which 
is eaten widi the pilaw,) new goats' cheese, and oranges. From 
time to time, a young palikari handed round a silver cup filled 
with wine. Having drunk to the independence of Greece and 
washed our hands again, we ai'ose ; and the same damsel spread 
upon the carpets, skins and coverings that served for our bed."* 

Only a few months after, Argos was again doomed to become 
a prey to the flames of war. The Rev. Mr. Swan, who 
reached it in May, describes it as being m a most miserable con- 
dition, and bearing evident marks of the devastation of revolu- 
tionary warfare. ^' Hundreds of houses were overthrown ; and 
the tottering walls alone betrayed the fact of their previous exist- 
ence. The houses are erected solely of mud, with the excep- 
tion of the Turkish Bezestein, and perhaps a Turkish mosque or 
two, which ai"e of stone." Mr. Swan was struck, on entering 
the place, with its resemblance to Pompeii. The monastery on 
the Larissa has shared the fate of the temple, the site of which it 
occupied. " The ancient and the modern fane are alike undis- 
tinguishable ruins." The greater part of the plain, however, 
was at that time covered with waving corn, and orange-trees ; 
and gardens ornamented the town, which was all alive with its 
population. In the following July, the Cambrian being again off 
Napoli, Mr. Swan availed himself of the opportunity to visit the 
field of battle at Mylos, where Demetrius Ypsilanti, with a hand- 
ful of men, a short thne before, succeeded in repulsing the 
Egyptian army.f He thence rode -on to Argos. " The road 
exhibited no sign of the devastations of war : the corn and vines 
were standing, and the latter promised an abundant supply of 
fruit ; they were in the act of cutting the corn. Argos, how- 
ever, is completely depopulated. We could scarcely find a 
single human being, and every house was blackened by fire. 
The fruit-trees in the town had been entirely stripped, ex- 
cepting a few limes and unripe pomegranates. We had the 
greatest difficulty to procure even water."f 

The want of water at Argos was, in ancient times, proverbial. § 

* Picture of Greece, vol. ii. pp. 22 — 6. The Writer cites passages from 
Homer, which will be familiar to most of our readers, exactly descriptive of 
these customs. 

t See pag-e 166. 

X Swan's Journal, vol. ii. pp. 7 — 11 ; 136. 

§ Pausanias states, that no water but that of Lerna, remains in this part of 
the country during the summer months. " He seems," Mr. Dodwell remarks, 
"to have forgotten the perennial current of the Erasinos, which is much 
nearer to Argos than the Lerneean Lake." 



296 MODERN GREECE. 

Strabo, however, mentions some fountains within the city ; and 
Mr. Dodwell says, there are at present several ancient and mod- 
ern wells iti Argos. " In almost any part of the town and its 
vicinity, water is obtained without digging to a great depth." 
The citadel, however, is stated to be without water, and is there- 
fore not tenable in the event of a close blockade. A more 
serious drawback on the attractions of this celebrated place is 
the extreme insalubrity of the whole plain in the autumn months. 
" The Malaria,^'' Mr. Dodwell says, " makes greater havoc in 
this beautiful country, than was ever occasioned by the Lernaean 
hydra, or the Nemean lion." 

The river Inachos, (now called Zeria, from ^iqgoq dry,) the bed 
of which is a short way to the N.E. of the city, is supplied with 
casual and transitory floods only after hard rains and the melting 
of the snows. Even in the month of December, when this Trav- 
eller visited Argos, there was not a drop of water in its channel. 
" It rises about ten miles from Argos, at a place called Mushi, in 
the way from Arcadia to Tripolitza.*" In the winter, it some- 
times descends from the mountains with such force as to do con- 
siderable damage to the town. 

On quitting Argos in the direction of Lerna, Mr. Dodwell, 
after passing some uninteresting Roman traces, crossed two riv- 
ulets running towards the Argolic Gulf. One of these is the 
Phrixos, which unites with the Erasinos to form the marsh of 
Lernos, and enters the sea between Temenion and Lerna, forty 
stadia from Argos. In fifty minutes from Argos, he " reached a 
cave in the rock, which contains a church and a spring of clear 
water, called Kephalari, which bursts from the rock with impet- 
uosity. This is the Erasinos, or Arsinos, which, according to 
Herodotus, Strabo, and Pausani'as, has its original source at the 
lake of Stymphalos in Arcadia. After a subterraneous course of 
200 stadia, it issues from this cavern, which is in Mount Chaon.f 
Bacchus and Pan here received the sacrifices of their worship- 
pers : the rock has been cut, and the cave was probably a 
Paneion or JVymjphaion. Near the source is another cave with 
two entrances, whicfe probably possessed, in ancient times, its 
peculiar objects of interest or adoration, but which is now 
employed for the manufacture of saltpetre." 

The travellers found, on entering the cave of the Erasinos, 
that it was the festival of the saint to whom the subterranean 

* We find no such place in the Itinerary. " Its source, according to Strabo, 
was on Mount Lurkios, near Kunouria in Arcadia ; according to Pausanias, 
on Mount Artemision." 

t " Redditur Argolicisingtns Erasinus in Arvis," — Ovid. Metam, xv, 276. 



MODERN GREECE. 297 

x^hurcli is dedicated ; and some good women, who had been 
offering ivp theii' devodons, hospitably loaded the strangers with 
boiled pidse and dried currants. In front of the cave is a tumu- 
lus, which had been recently opened, and was found to contain 
some small columns of grey granite. In fifty-five minutes from 
the cave, passing through some fine rice-plantations, they reached 
the lake of Lerna, — " a small marshy pool, overgrown with 
reeds. As the stream which issues from it turns some mills, it 
has taken the name of Mvloi^ (Mylos) : it discharges itself into 
the sea, which is a few paces from it. The Lernaean marsh is 
formed by several clear and copious springs, which rush out 
of a rock at the foot of a hill. This lake is, however, so diminu- 
tive, and so much concealed by reeds and other aquatic plants, 
that it might easily be passed without attracting the attention 
of the traveller. The millers who live near it, assured us it had 
no bottom.* 

" ApoUodorus pretends that the hydra used to enter the plain 
and ravage the country and the flocks ; and it still continues oc- 
casionally to commit similar depredations during the winter 
months. The fact is, the lake of Lerna is the hydra, and its 
heads are the sources, wliich Hercules, or some powerful individ- 
ual, endeavoured to stop up, in order to prevent the recurrence 
of an inundation. But as soon as one spring was closed, it 
naturally foimd vent in another part ; or, according to the em- 
blematical style of antiquity, as soon as one head was removed, 
others appeai'ed in its place. The different opinions concerning 
the number of heads is easily accounted for, the springs being 
more or less numerous, according to the season of the year and 
the quantity of water. The word T§ga is probably derived from 
Tpcop, which is the lake with its numerous springs or heads. 
These were the ideas which occurred to me upon the spot, and 
which, I find, had long before been those of Albricus.f 

* Pausanias asserts, that the Alcyonian lake or pool (which, remarks Mr. 
Dodwell, is evidently the same as the Lernaeau,) is unfathomable, and that Nero 
could not reach the bottom with lead fastened to ropes many stadia in length. 
He describes it as the third of a stadium (about seventy-three yards) in diame- 
ter, and lying among grass and bulrushes ; he adds, that it draws persons to 
the bottom, who venture to swim upon its surface. ApoUodorus denominates it 
Lernes Elos ; he also mentions the fountains of Lerna and of Amymone. 
Strabo mentions the river and lake of Lerna, and the fountain of Amymone. 
Virgil also calls Lerna a river. Pausanias speaks of Lerna as a city, and calls 
Amymone a river : he mentions the fount of Amphiaraus, and the rivers Chei- 
marros, Phrixos, and Pontynos as in the same vicinity. See references in 
Dodwell and Clarke. 

t " At the time of the Trojan war, the environs of Argos were a marshy 
ground, with but few inhabitants to cultivate it ; while the territory of Mycense, 
abounding in all the principles of vegetation, produced luxuriant harvests, and 

38 



393 MODERN GREECE. 

" The immediate vicinity of the Lernaean pool was very cele- 
brated in the mythological fictions of antiquity. For, besides 
the story of Hydra and Aniymone, we have those of Pluto and 
Bacchus, who both descended to the infernal regions near this 
place. We are also informed by ancient mythographers, that 
Amymone, daughter of Danaus, who was employed in supply- 
ing Argos with water, was stolen away by Neptune near this spot, 
and that he struck a rock near which she stood with his trident, 
from which a fountain, called by her name, Amymone, immedi- 
ately issued. In this story, we may, perhaps, trace the emblem 
of an earthquake, which caused an irruption of the sea, with the 
appearance of a fountain, — as often happens during such violent 
concussions of the earth. 

" The water of Lerna was of such reputed sanctity, that it 
was used by Minerva and Mercury for the purification of the 
Daac.ides, after they had killed their husbands. The springs 
issue from the foot of Mount Pontinos, an insulated pointed rock, 
which we were fourteen minutes in ascending, with the hope of 
discovering the remains of the temple of Minerva of Sais ; in- 
stead of which, we found only the ruins of a modern castle, 
without one relic of antiquity. Our trouble was, however, fully 
compensated by the extensive view which the hill commands. 
Towards the north is the Larissa of Argos, and beyond it, the 
table mountain near Nemea ; more to the east, are descried the 
ruins of Mycenae, Tiryns, and Nauplia, while the Argolic Gulf 
is immediately below the eye. 

" Pausanias informs us, that Mount Pontinos had the peculiar 
quality of causing all the rain by which its surface was drenched, 
to disappear ; but this has in it nothing of the marvellous, as he 
seems to infer, as it is composed of a calcareous rock, full of 
deep fissures and subterraneous cavities. The falling rain, there- 
fore, after being absorbed, is conducted by the springs which are 
at the base of the rock, to the Lernaean pool. The whole of 
this hill is covered with the wild sage, the salvia pomifera, bear- 
ing bunches of yellow flowers, and a green berry about the size 

was extremely papulous. But the heat of the sun having-, during- eight centu- 
ries, absorbed the superfluous humidity of the former of these districts, and the 
moisture necessary to the fecundity of the latter, has rendered sterile the fields 
of Mycenae, and bestowed fertility on those of Argos." — Travels of Jlnacliarsis, 
vol. V. ch. 64. "The fables transmitted from one generation to another, con- 
cerning the contest between Neptune and Juno for the country, as between Nep- 
tune and Minerva for Attica, may," Dr. Clarke remarks, " be regarded as so 
many records of those physical revolutions in preceding ages, which gave birth 
to these fertile regions ; when the waters of the sea slowly retired from the 
land, or, according to the language of poetry and fable, were said to have re- 
luctantly abandoned the plains of Greece." 



MODERN GREECE. 299 

•t' a small cherry ; the under part of the leaves is covered with 
a white woolly substance, easily detached by the wind, and 
which, on coming in contact with the eyes, causes a violent 
smarting pain, that lasts for about a quarter of an hour. This 
plant is common in rocky places in Greece, and is called Ale- 
phaskia, from Al/](pa6xoi, the ancient name for sage. It enters 
into the materia medica of the modern Greeks, and is taken as 
tea, and used as a sudorific in feverish cases."* 

MYCENyE. 

The ruins of the proud capital of the " king of men" are found 
near- the little village of Krabata, about six miles to the N.E. of 
Argos.f This is on many accounts one of the most interesting 
sites in Greece. " I approached the Cyclopian city of Perseus," 
says Mr. Dodwell, " with a greater degree of veneration than, 
any other place in Greece had inspired. Its remote antiquity, 
enveloped in the deepest recesses of recorded time, and its pre- 
sent extraordinary remains, combined to fill my mind with a 
sentiment in which awe was mingled with admiration. I was 
not so forcibly impressed at Athens, at Delphi, at Delos, or at 
Troy." Here, Sophocles has laid the scene of his Electra, and 
the poem bears every mark of having been written by one fa- 
miliar with the localities described. He was thirty-five years of 
age when Mycenae was laid waste by the Argives, B.C. 466. 
In the time of Strabo, even its ruins appear to have been un- 
known ; for he asserts, that not a vestige of the city remains. 
The place had ceased to be inhabited long before the Mace- 
donian conquest, and its last inhabitants were the contemporaries 
of ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. 

We must now attempt to give, in a very compressed form, the 
substance of the valuable information furnished by the researches 
of Dr. E. D. Clarke and Mr. Dodwell. 

" On quitting Argos," says the latter Traveller, " we crossed 
the streamless Inachos, and, in twenty-six minutes, passed a 
bridge over a forsaken watercourse which joins the Inachos. We 
went near a khan, and, in an hour and twenty-three rpinutes 
from Argos, reached the village of Krabata, situated at the foot 
of the mountains, about a mile below the ruins of Mycenae. 

" The first ruin that fixed my attention was that which travel- 
lers have generally denominated the Treasury of Atreus. Some 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 224, 8. 

t According to Pansanias, the distance from Mycense to Argos was fifty 
stadia. 



300 MODERN GEEECE. 

hundred paces further brought me to a magnificent wall, on 
turning round the angle of which, the Cyclopian Gate of the 
Lions presented itself before me, and the entrance into that same 
acropolis through which the 'king of men' passed, when he 
quitted Mycenae for the conquest of Troy. This gate still re- 
mains nearly in the same state as in the second century, when it 
was visited by Pausanias, who says, it is supposed to have been 
made by the Cyclopians. The plan of the gate closely resem- 
bles the approach to the Treasury of Atreus. In each, two 
parallel walls, forming a passage, lead to the portals, over which 
is a triangular niche in a wall, composed of parallelogram blocks, 
each door diminishing in breadth upwards. The Gate of the 
Lions which faces the north-west, is nearly concealed under an 
accumulation of earth and ruins : its height, therefore, cannot be 
ascertained, but it was probably not less than 17 feet; its 
breadth at top is 9 1-2 feet. The lintel is 15 1-2 feet in length, 
6 feet 8 inches in breadth, and 4 feet in height. The stone, on 
which are the sculptured lions, is 1 1 feet broad at the base and 
9 in height ; its general thickness is 2 feet : it is of a triangular 
form, filling the niche made for its recepfion. The sti'eet, or 
approach to the gate, is 30 1-2 feet in breadth. The construc- 
tion of the lateral walls is nearly regular, differing from the walls 
which constitute the peribolos of the acropolis, which are irregu- 
lar polygons. They are of the hard breccia, which was exca- 
vated near the spot ; but the block of the lions is of the same 
green marble as the columnar pilaster near the Treasury of 
Atreus, and which resembles in appearance the green basalt of 
Egypt. This curious piece of sculpture, probably the most an- 
cient in Greece, represents in half-relief, a column between two 
Egyptian lions,* their hinder feet resting on the lower part of the 
block, just over the lintel of the gate; the front feet placed upon 
a basement prolonged from the pedestal of the column, which, 
increasing in diameter upwards, is directly contrary to the usual 
form of columns. The capital is composed of three annulets, in- 
creasing in thickness and diameter upwards, surmounted with the 
Doric a6acMs, upon which there must anciently have been some ob- 
ject of a triangular form, to fill the upper part of the niche : this must 
have been a flame. The column has been conjectured to allude to 
the solar worship of the Persians, as Apollo and the Sun were 

* Dr. Clarke says, " two lions, or rather panthers, standing like the sup- 
porters of a modern coat of arms." The gate he describes as being "built 
like Stonehenge, with two uprights of stone and a transverse entablature," 
above which is a " triangular repository, entirely filled with the enormous alto- 
relievo upon a stone block of a triangular form." His measurement but very 
slightly differs from that of Mr. Dodwell. 



MODERN GREECE. 301 

represented under a columnar form. The column was also the 
symbol of fire, and perhaps, in the present case, was intended to 
represent a. pyrathemi, or fire-altar, of which the lions seem to 
be the guai'dians. The lion was also tlie liquid element in the 
hieroglyphical language of Egypt ; and the triangular form of the 
whole block and of the niche, may, perhaps, be an allusion to 
the fivSgoi, or conic emblem of the sun.* This species of ado- 
ration was possibly introduced into Argolis by the early Egyp- 
tian colonies ; and even the sculptured stone itself may have 
been brought from the country of the Nile, as the auspicious 
palladium and tutelary preservative of the recent emigration. 
The lions are sculptured in the Egyptian style, and resemble 
those which are depicted on the most ancient ceramic vases 
found in Greece. Their tails are not broad and bushy, but nar- 
row, resembling those which are seen in the most ancient sculp- 
ture of Egypt, Greece, and Etruria. One of the lions before the 
arsenal at Venice, wliich was brought from Athens, another 
which still remains near Cape Zoster in Attica, and those which 
are represented on the Perugian bronzes, ai-e of the same form. 
As the heads of the lions have been destroyed, it is impossible to 
ascertain in what direction they were turned. f The figure of 
the lion was an emblem of force and courage, and it was fre- 
quently placed upon sepulchres, particularly where any battle 
had taken place ; as at the pass of Thermopylse, and on the 
tomb of the Thebans in the plain of Chseroneia. 

" The back part of the Lion Gate is highly interesting, inas- 
much as it exhibits two styles of construction, differing totally 
from each other. That side which is towards the plain of Ar- 
gos is of the rough Cyclopian masonry, while the other side is 
regularly constructed, like the front of the gate and the two late- 
ral walls which diverge from it. It would appear, that the gate 
had been made some time after the original Cyclopian struc- 
ture.! ^ magnificent wall, composed of irregular polygons, 
closely united and carefully smoothed, supports the terrace on 

* A mass of green marble, now in the British Museum, was found near the 
Treasury of Atreus by the excavators in the employ of the Ear] of Elgin, in 
which appear the spiral meander and some circular ornaments similar to those 
over the column of the Gate of the Lions. The spiral ornament is supposed 
to be symbolic of water ; the pointed or zig-zag ornament, which accompanies 
it on the pilaster of the Treasury of Atreus, to be emblematical of fire. Thus, 
the two elements would seem to be united, as they are supposed to be in the 
sculpture. 

t Dr. Clarke, however, says, that the heads of the " panthers" seem to have 
been originally raised, fronting each other above the capital, where they pro- 
bably met, occupying the space included by the vertex of the triangle, which 
Mr. Dodwell supposes to have been filled up with a flame. 

t'Mr. Dodwell " hazards this only as a probable conjecture," 



302 MODERN GREECE. 

which the Gate of the Lions is situated : this wall faces the 
Treasury of Atreus. 

" The acropolis of Mycenae is a long irregular triangle, stand- 
ing nearly east and west." (Dr. Clarke says, about 330 yards 
in length.) The walls follow the sinuosities of the rock, and are 
mostly composed of the second style of well-joined polygons^ al- 
though the rough construction is occasionally seen. It is not for- 
tified with towers. On the northern side is a small gate, with its 
lintel still entire. The structure is so disposed, that those who 
entered it would have their left arm, which was guarded by the 
shield, on the side of the acropolis, which is a deviation from the 
common rule. The grooves for the bolts, in the jambs of the 
door, are square and of large dimensions. Not far from this, 
towards the eastern extremity of the acropolis, is another gate of 
a pointed form, almost concealed by stones and earth, which 
fully merits the trouble of an excavation. The traces within the 
acropolis are few and imperfect. There is a circular chamber 
excavated in the rock, widening towards the bottom, and of 
the same form as the Treasury of Atreus : it was probably a 
cistern.* 

" A deep rocky glen separates the northern side of the acro- 
polis from a neighbouring hill : on all the other sides, it is more 
or less steep, but particularly so towards the three-topped Euboia. 
In a rocky ravine, which divides the acropolis from this moun- 
tain, there is the bed of a torrent, at present dry ; but it is evi- 
dent that the stream which rises at the Perseia (or fount of Per- 
seus) ran through it to the plain. This stream is at present con- 
veyed in a small open aqueduct of modern construction, over 
the Treasury of Atreus, to the subjacent village of Krabata, and 
thence to the khan at the beginning of the plain. There was an- 
ciently a bridge over the ravine : one of the side walls still re- 
mains, consisting in well-joined polygons. The fount of Per- 
seus rises a few hundred yards to the N.E. of the acropolis, and, 

" " We saw within the walls of the citadel, an ancient cistern, which had 
been hollowed out of the breccia, and lined with stucco. Such is the state of 
preservation in which the cement yet exists upon the sites of this reservoir, 
that it is difficult to explain the cause of its perfection after so many centuries. 
Similar excavations may be observed in the acropolis at Argos ; also upon the 
Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, and among the remains of the ancient cities 
of Taurica Chersonesus, particularly in the rocks above Partus St/mbolorum. 
The porous nature of the breccia rocks may serve to explain the use, and per- 
iiaps the absolute necessity, of the stucco here ; and it may also illustrate the 
well-known fable concerning- those porous vessels which the Danai'des were 
doomed to fill. Probably, it alluded to the cisterns of Argos, which the daugh- 
ters of Danaus were compelled to supply with water, according to the usual 
employment of women in the East." — Dr. E. D. Clarke, vol. vi. 8vo. p. 516. 



I^IODERN GREECEi 303 

immediately after issuing from the rock, forms a small clear 
stream of excellent water with which Mycenae was anciently sup- 
plied."* 

The Gate of tlie Lions is pronounced by Sir W. Gell to be 
" the earliest authenticated specimen of sculpture in Europe." 
The ancient custom of consecrating gates, by placing sacred ima- 
ges above them, has existed, Dr. Clarke remarks, in every 
period of history ; and he instances the holy gate of the kremlin 
at Moscow, called the Gate of our Saviour, in passing through 
which every male, from the sovereign to the peasant, must be 
uncovered. f Among many nations, the citadel was frequently 
of a sacred character, being at once a fortress and a sanctuary. 
Dr. Clarke supposes, that the acropolis of Mycenas, as well as 
that of Athens, was " one vast shrine or consecYKted jaeriholus," 
and that these tablets were the hiera at the gates of the holy 
places before which the people worshipped. J To the homage 
so rendered at the entering in of sanctuaries, he remarks, we 
have frequent allusions in the Scriptures.^ " Mycenae has pre- 
served for us, in a state of admirable perfection, a model of one 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 229, 238—242. 

t See Mod. Trav., Russia, p. 130. 

t Dr. Clarke supposes, that Sophocles alludes to this remarkable monument 
of the ancient mythology, when he makes Orestes, before entering the citadel, 
speak of worshipping the gods of his country stationed in the Propylsea. 
(Electra, v. 1391.) 

— TrarpZa irpocKvaavd' eSri 

&sZv, haonrsp irpoiroXa vaiouaiv raSs' 



Rendered by Mr.' Dale : 



-" let us speed 



Within, adoring my paternal gods, 

All who within this vestibule abide." — (Vol. ii. p. 363.^ 

Sophocles represents the worship of the Lycsean Apollo as the prevailing my- 
thology at Mycenae. Both Clyteranestra and Electra invoke his aid. The 
" orbicular symbols" and the pillar are supposed by the learned Traveller to be 
typical of this deity, who is the same as the Egyptian Osiris and the Indian 
Bacchus, to whom the panther was sacred. " All the superstitions and festi- 
vities connected with the Dionysia, came into Greece with Danaus from Egypt. 
The cities of Argolis are, consequently, of all places, the most likely to retain 
vestiges of these ancient orgies ; andtlie orbicular symbols, together with the 
pyramidal form of the tablets, the style of architecture, and the magnificent 
remains of the sepulchres of the kings of Mycenee, all associate witli our re- 
collections of Egypt, and forcibly direct our attention towards that country." 
It is remarkable, that the Argives are stated to have given to one of their gods, 
the name of the Meek God, M£iXi;:^ioj Aioj, which strikingly accords with the 
marked character of the features of Osiris. 

§ " Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of the gate be- 
fore the Lord," &c. — Ezek. xlvi. 5. " The Lord loveth the gates of Zion," 
he. — Psalm Ixxsvii. 3. See also Psalm ix. 14 ; cxviii, 19. 



304 MODERN GREECE. 

ft 

of the oldest citadels in the world ; nor can there be found a 
more valuable monument for the consideration of the scholar, 
than these precious relics of her Propylsea, exhibiting examples 
of sculpture more ancient than the Trojan war, and of the style 
of fortification used in the heroic ages ; and also a plan of those 
gates where not only religious ceremonies were performed, but 
also the courts of judicature were held.* For this purpose, it 
was necessary that there should be a paved court, or open space, 
in the front of the Propylasa, as it was here that kings and ma- 
gistrates held their sittbgs upon solemn occasions. It is said of 
the kings of Judah and Israel, that they sat on their thrones ' in 
a void place,f in the entrance of the gate of Samaria,' where 
' all the prophets prophesied before them.' The gate of Mycenae 
affords a perfect commentary upon this and similar passages of 
Scripture. The walls of the acropolis project in parallel lines 
before the entrance, forming the sort of area or oblong court be- 
fore the Propylaea, to which allusion is thus made ; and it is in 
this open space before the citadel, that Sophocles has laid the 
scene in the beginning of the Electra. The markets were al- 
ways held in these places, J as is now the custom before the gates 
of Acre, and of many other towns in the East." 

The ruin to which repeated reference has been made under 
the apocryphal title of the Treasury of Atreus, but which is evi- 
dently of a sepulchral character, is thus described by the same 
Traveller. 

" The first thing that we noticed, as we drew nigh to the gate 
of the city, was an ancient tumulus of immense size upon our 
right, precisely similar, in its form and covering, to those conical 
sepulchres (called by the Greeks tcc^os and jw,Mor, by the Turks, 
tepe, and now known under the name of barrows or cairns) which 
are pretty well understood to have all of them reference to a 
people of the most remote antiquity, (probably the Celtce,) and 
to have been raised for sepulchal purposes. This tumulus has 
evidently been opened since it was first constructed, but at what 
period is quite uncertain ; probably in a very remote age. The 
entrance is no longer concealed : the door is in the side, and there 
are steps in front of it. A small aperture in the vertex of the 
cone has also been rendered visible by the removal of the soil j 
but this, as well as the entrance in the side, was closed when the 

* See Gen. xxiii. 10,18. Dent. xvii. 5,8; xxi. 19 ; xxii. 15; xxv. 7. Ruth, 
iv. 1. 2 Sam. XV. 2. Job, xxix. 7. Psalm cxxvii. 5. The place where the 
Amphictyonic Comicil was held, was called HvXaia. 

+ ' Or floor.'— 1 Kings xxii. 10. 

t 2 Kings vii. 18. 



MODERN GREECE. 305 

mound was entire and the sepulchre remained inviolate. All the 
rest of tlie external part is a covering of earth and turf. We 
ascended along the outside to the top ; and had it not been for 
tlie circumstances now mentioned, we should have considered it 
as in all respects similar to the tombs in the Plain of Troy, or 
in the south of Russia, or in any of the northern countries of 
Europe. But this sepulchre, among modern travellers, has re- 
ceived the appellation of the Brazen Treasury of Atreus and 
his sons ; an assumption requiring more of historical evidence 
in its support than has yet been adduced. In the first place, it 
may be asked. What document can be urged to prove, either 
that the Treasury of Atreus was brazen, or that this was the 
ti-easury *? The whole seems to rest upon the discovery of a 
few bronze nails \vithin tlie sepulchre ; used evidently for the 
purpose of fastening on something wherewith the interior surface 
was formerly lined. But allowing that the whole of the inward 
sheathing consisted of bronze plates, what has this to do with 
the subterraneous cells {vvio/aia dixo^our^/u.aza'j where the trea- 
sures of Atreus were deposited 1 Cells of bronze were consis- 
tent with the customs of all Argolis. There was a cell of this 
description at Ai'gos, used for the incarceration of Danae. A 
similar repository existed in the citadel of Mycenae, said to have 
been the hiding-place of Eurystheus when in fear of Hercules. 
But this sepulchre was without the walls of the acropolis. Nor 
can it be credited, that any sovereign of Mycenae would construct 
a treasury without his citadel, fortified as it was by Cyclopean 
walls. Pausanias, by whom alone this subterraneous treasury 
of Atreus is mentioned, clearly places it within the citadel, close 
by the sepulchre of the same monarch. Having passed the 
gate of the city, and noticed the lions over the lintel, he speaks 
of the Cyclopean wall surrounding the city, and describes the 
antiquities it enclosed. ' Among the ruins,' he says, ' there is a 
spring called Persea, and the subterraneous cells of Atreus and 
his sons, where they kept their treasures ; and there, indeed, is 
the tomb of Atreus, and of all those whom, returning with Aga- 
memnon from Troy, ^gisthus slew at supper.' Cassandra 
being included among the number, this circumstance, he ob- 
serves, had caused a dispute between the inhabitants of Mycenae 
and those of Amyclse, concerning the monument {^Mvrjfia^ of 
Cassandra, which of the two cities really possessed it. Then he 
adds, that another monument is also there, that of Agamemnon 
himself and of his charioteer Eurymedon ; and he closes the 
chapter saying, ' The sepulchres of Clyteranestra and ^gisthus 
i 39 



306 MODERN GREECE. 

are without the walls, not being worthy of a situation where Aga- 
memnon and those slain with him were laid.' " 

If the names assigned by Pausanias to the different monu- 
ments of Mycenae could be considered as duly authorized by his- 
tory, Dr. Clarke remarks, that the tumulus in question might be 
concluded to be the Heroum of Perseus, to the situation o£ 
which it seems accurately to -correspond. " As soon as Pausa- 
nias leaves the citadel, and begins his journey towards Argos, the 
first object noticed by him is the Heroum, described as upon his 
left hand. His account, therefore, agrees with the position of 
this magnificent sepulchre, which is worthy of being at once the 
tomb and the temple of the founder of Mycenae." Pausanias, 
however, invaluable and accurate as he is as a topographer, is 
not always to be followed implicitly as an antiquary ; and as My- 
cenae had ceased to be inhabited nearly six centuries before his 
time, it is not to be wondered at, that, as Mr. Dodwell remarks, 
he should seem to have been as much bewildejed in the dark 
labyrinth of Mycenaean antiquities sixteen cenfUries ago, as we 
are at the present day. Under these circumstances, the few 
and scattered lights obtained from the Electra, become a much 
safer means of deciding the point in question. Now, according 
to the Poet, himself familiar with every object that he describes, 
the tomb of Agamemnon appears to have been decidedly with- 
out the citadel. " Orestes, desirous of bearing his v^ows to his 
father's tomb, repairs thither," Dr. Clarke remarks, " before he 
enters the Propylsea ; and Electra, who is only permitted to 
leave the citadel in the absence of jEgisthus, meets Chrysothe- 
mis upon the outside of the gates, carrying the offerings sent by 
her mother to appease the manes of Agamemnon. The posi- 
tion of the sepulchre, therefore, seems in all respects to coincide 
with that of the tumulus. The words of Sophocles are also de- 
cisive as to its form ; for the tomb of Agamemnon is not only 
called zaipo;, but also v.al6vri (mound or tumulus). There is 
reason to believe that, in his time at least, this remarkable sepul- 
chre was considered by the inhabitants of Mycenae as the tomb 
of Agamemnon. But the most striking evidence m favour of 
this opinion occurs in the Electra of Euripides. When Orestes, 
in that tragedy relates to Pylades his nocturnal visit to the sep- 
ulchre of his father, it Is expressly stated, that he repaired thither 
without entering the walls. Possibly the known existence of 
this tumulus, and of its form and situation, suggested both to So- 
phocles and to Euripides, their allusions to the tomb of Aga- 
memnon, and to the offerings made by Orestes at his father's 
sepulchre." 



MODERN GREECE. 307 

Mr. Dodwell seems inclined to think, that the subterraneous 
structures of Atreus and his sons, the tomb of Agamemnon, and 
the fount of Perseia, were all within the town, but not within the 
acropolis. It is we think, very evident, that the tumulus is the 
sepulchre alluded to by the Tragedians as that of Agamemnon, 
which was clearly without the gates of the royal halls (^a»//a.) 
The question then arises, whether the Gate oi the Lions was the 
entrance to the city or to the citadel. Mr. Dodwell says: "The 
citadel of Mycenaj is never mentioned under the appellation of 
acropolis by ancient authors ; and this silence has induced some 
learned men (who have not, however, been on the spot) to imag- ' 
ine that the city was contained within the narrow limits of those 
walls wliich constituted the acropolis alone : the actuabsurvey of 
the extreme sraalhiess of this enclosure will immediately destroy 
such a supposition. The single palace of the Atridas and a 
temple or two, allowing them only moderate proportions, would 
occupy the whole space, without leaving any room for the in- 
habitants, or for the wide streets (evgva/via^ of Homer, which 
adorned the wealthy city of Mycenae with its ' well-built' and 
' heavenly walls.'* Nor would the powerful Arglans so peremp- 
torily have insisted upon the destruction of the city and its in- 
habitants, if it had consisted solely of the little rock on which its 
acropolis was erected. . The walls of the city extended consid- 
erably beyond the subterraneous chambers towards the plain ; and 
they may still be traced in many places, besides some well-built 
foundations of other edifices, and many heaps of small stones and 
tiles, the remains of the houses. The walls of the city were, 
perhaps, destroyed by the Argians, and the stones and other re- 
mains were possibly carried across the plain to the capital, where 
such materials would always be wanting. The walls of the 
acropolis, however, were evidently not demolished. According 
to Pausanias, who probably alludes to the acropolis, the walls of 
Mycenae resisted the destroying efforts of the Argians by their 
extraordinary solidity, for which they were indebted to the archi- 
tectural skill of the Cyclopians. The outer enclosure, or walls 
of the city, were apparently less ancient than those of the for- 
tress, and seem not to have been so strong or of such irregular 
construction. The demolition of the to^vn of Tiryns has been 
still more complete than that of Mycenae, as scarcely a trace of 
any thing remains, except the acropolis. The Jwfia Ilslojitdcov 
and the Tyrinthian acropolis were probably not only the citadels 
of the respective cities, but the sacred enclosures and revered 

* EvKTijisvov TTTo'XuOpov — HoMEB. Ovpavcareixv- — SopHOCLES. 



SOS MODERN GREECE. 

sanctuaries of some divinity worshipped with equal adoration by 
all the states of Argolis, and were accordingly respected to a 
certain degree by the Argians, who contented themselves with 
dismantling the walls, while they levelled with the ground the 
outward enclosure." 

It does not, indeed, seem at all probable, that the royal sepul- 
chre should have been within the citadel, or that Pausanias should 
have meant to convey this idea, when he spoke of it as being 
among the ruins of Mycenae. On the other hand, it seems 
scarcely less improbable that the royal treasury should be without 
the citadel. Supposing the tumulus in question, therefore, to 
have been within the walls of the city, and that the Prcjpylaeon 
was only the gate to the royal acropolis (scsvam Pelopis domum),* 
the references in the tragedies and the statement of Pausanias are 
easily reconciled ; and the very circumstance which forbids the 
idea that it is the Treasury of Atreus, renders it all but certain 
that it is the Agxacog Tudos of the Poet and the real tomb of 
Agamemnon, f 

The interior of the tumulus is thus described by Dr. E. D, 
Clarke. " Having descended from the top of it, we repaired to 
the entrance upon its eastern side. Some steps, whereof the 
traces are visible, originally conducted to the door. This 
entrance, built with all the colossal grandeur of Cyclopean ar- 
chitecture, is covered with a mass of breccia of such prodigious 
size, that, were it not for the testimony of others who have since 
visited the tomb, an author, in simply stating its dimensions, 
might be supposed to exceed the truth. The door itself is not 
more than ten feet wide, and is shaped like the windows and 
doors of the Egyptian and earliest Grecian buildings, wider at 
the bottom than at the top ; forming a passage six yards long, 
covered by two stones. The slab now particularly alluded to, is 
the innermost entablature, lying across the uprights of the portal, 
and extending many feet into the walls of the tomb on either 
side. This vast lintel is best seen by a person within the tomb, 
who is looking back towards the entrance : it consists of a fine- 
grained breccia, finished almost to a polish. The same silicious 
aggregate may be observed in the mountains near Mycenae as at 
Athens. We carefully measured this mass, and found it to 

* Horace. 

t " Soon as I reached my Father's ancient tomb, 
Lo ! o'er the mound I saw Hbations poured 
Of freshly flowing niilli, and, o'er the tomb, 
A coronal of every flower that blows." 

Dale's Sophocles, vol. ii. p. 336. 



MODERN GREECE. -309 

equal twenty-seven feet in length, seventeen feet in width, and 
four feet seven inches in thickness.* There are other stones 
also of immense size within the tomb ; but tliis is the most con- 
siderable, and perhaps it may be mentioned as the largest slab of 
hewn stone in die \vorld, excepting, perhaps, Pompey's Pillar. 
Over this entrance there is a triangidar aperture, the base coin- 
ciding with the lintel, and its vertex terminating pyramidically, 
so as to complete, with the inclining sides of the door, an acute 
or lancet arch. 

" On arriving within the interior of the tomb, we were 
much struck with the grandeur of its appearance. What ap- 
peal's externally to be nothing more than a high conical mound 
of earth, contains a circular chamber of stone, regularly built, 
and terminating in a conical dome corresponding to the shape of 
the tumulus. Its form has been aptly compared to that of an 
English bee-hive. The interior superficies of the stone has been 
lined either with metal or with marble plates, fastened on with 
bronze nails, many of which now remain as they were originally 
driven into the sides.f Upon the right hand, a second portal 
leads from the principal chamber to an interior apartment of a 
square form and smaller dimensions. The door-way to this had 
the same sort of triangular aperture above it that we had noticed 
over the main entrance to the sepulchre ; and as it was nearly 
closed to the top with earth, we stepped into the triangular cavity 
above the lintel, that we might look down into the area of this 
inner chamber, but it was too dark to discern any thing. We 
therefore collected a faggot of dry bushes, and throwing this in 
a blaze to the bottom, we saw that we might easily leap down 
and examine the whole cavity. The diameter of the circular 
chamber is sixteen yards, but the dimensions of the square apart- 
ment do not exceed nine yards by seven. We did not measure 
the height of the dome, but the elevation of the vertex of the 
cone from the floor, in its present state, is stated by Sir W» 
Gell to be about seventeen yards."f 

■* Mr. Dodwell says, three feet nine inches in thickness, agreeing in the 
other measurements, and the specific gravity is calculated to be about 133 tons. 
" No masses, except those of Egypt and Balbec, can be compared with it." 

t These nails have been analyzed and proved to consist of 88 parts copper 
and 12 of tin. The same constituents, nearly in the same proportion, exist in 
all very ancient bronze, (the ■j^oXkos of Homer,) which must be distinguished 
from the brass {orichalcum) of later ages, which consists of copper and zinc. 
Possibly the most ancient bronze may be derived from a native alloy, consisting 
of the two metals in this state of combination." 

X Mr. Dodwell says, forty-nine feet from the apex to the present floor, and in 
diameter, forty-eight feet. The inner chamber is about twenty-seven feet 
square, and nineteen in height in its present state- 



310 MODERN GREECE. 

Mr. Dodwell remarks, that this sepulchre, though but slightly 
mentioned by Pausanias, perfectly corresponds to his more de- 
tailed description of that of Minyas at Orchomenos. This lat- 
ter was, however, of larger dimensions and of white marble. 
The tomb of Agamemnon is of " the hardest and most compact 
breccia in Greece, resembling the rare antique marble called 
breccia tracagnina antica, which is sometimes found among the 
ruins of Rome." The breccia of Mycense, of which the neigh- 
bouring rocks and the three-topped Mount Euboia consist, is 
compact and heavy, the grains large and generally angular, the 
colour usually black, while the matrix of the rock is composed of 
various gradations of yellow. " The circular chamber is formed 
by horizontal (not radiated) layers, which, advancing over each 
other, and having had their lower angle cut off, give the structure 
the appearance of a Gothic dome. Some of the contiguous 
blocks have fallen, so as to admit a picturesque and mysterious 
ray of light. The blocks are all parallelograms, (thirty-four 
ranges are at present uncovered,) and are united with the great- 
est precision, without the aid of cement. The stones are not 
all of equal dimensions, but the layers are generally about two 
feet in thickness, though they have the appearance of diminishing 
towards the vertex. The outside front of the great chamber, 
which is the only part not covered with earth, faces the acro- 
polis, from which it is only 100 paces distant. Some masses of 
rosso antico, covered with spiral ornaments, and a columnar 
pilaster with its base, are seen lying among the ruins near the 
gate, which may have been placed as a sepulchral stele in the 
midst of the triangular cavity, the sides being filled with other 
symbolical ornaments. The pilaster and its base are of a soft 
green stone, and the ornaments are of an Egyptian, rather than 
of a Grecian character. Indeed," adds Mr. Dodwell, " the 
whole edifice has so much the appearance of Egyptian origin 
that it was very probably constructed by the colony of the Bel- 
ides, after the expulsion of the Inachid^ from the Argolic terri- 
tory. All the remains at Mycenae are of an Egyptian character. 
The walls alone of the acropolis seem to have been raised by 
another race." The nails which are supposed to have attached 
to the wall lamince of bronze, could not, it is added, have sup- 
ported anything of great weight. About one-third projects from 
the stones. Some faint traces and holes are discerned also over 
the lintel of the door, to which ornaments in bronze or marble 
were once attached. Other holes are seen upon the flat wall, , 
still higher above the door. The exterior of the lintel is orna- 
mented with two parallel mouldings, which are also carried down 



MODERN GREECE. 311 

tiie jambs of the door, in a manner similar to the portal of the 
temple of Bacchus at Naxos. " Probably," says Mr. Dodwell, 
" the whole of this part was sumptuously decorated, and, conse- 
quently, could not have been originally covered with the earth, 
though the odier parts of the structure were no doubt concealed 
as at the present day, exhibiting the appearance of a lofty tumu- 
lus. It is difficult to conjecture in what manner the entrance was 
anciently closed, as there are no visible indications of holes for 
the bolts or for the hinges ; whereas the door of the inner 
chamber exhibits holes in which the hinges and bolts were 
affixed." The learned Traveller inclines to think, that the great 
chamber may have been always open, and its approach prohib- 
ited by religious awe ;* but it is more probable, that the entrance 
was originally concealed, as in the pyramids, to which these sub- 
terraneous cones have a considerable approximation, both in the 
principle of their construction and in tlieir sepulchral character. f 
Mr. Dodwell found the remains of three other circular cham- 
bers, which are entirely dilapidated, with the exception of the 
doors, tiiat are still covered with their lintels. " These' struc- 
tures," he says, " were evidently less magnificent thari the 
' Treasury of Atreus.' One of the doors is seven feet ten 
inches in breadth at top, and the thickness of the wall is ten 
feet ; another is only five and a half feet, and its lintel eleven 
feet three inches in length, twentytwo inches in thickness, and 
seven feet eight inches in breadth. The lintels of all these 
doors are composed of two blocks, of which the interior is the 
broadest. Among the ruins are some other heaps, which prob- 
ably contain sepulchral chambers ; and there is no place in 
Greece, where a regular and extensive plan of excavation 
might be prosecuted with more probable advantage. Although 
specimens of singular cmiosity, rather than of great beauty, 
would be found' (since the town was destroyed before the Arts 

* " Pausanias gives an account of an old temple in the vicinity of Mantineia, 
that was constructed by Trophonius and Agamedes,the entrance of which was 
not closed with bolts, but a simple cord was drawn before it, which was suf- ' 
ficient to maintain the inviolability of the entrance ; except in one instance, 
when Aipytos, son of Hippothroos, having dared to pass the sacred limit, 
was immediately struck with blindness, and soon after died." The Treasury 
' at Messene, in which Philopcemen was immured, was closed with a great stone 
by means of a machine — " saxum ingens, puo operitur, machind superimposi- 
tum est." — LivY, in Dodwell. 

t " AH these subterranean chambers in Greece, Sicily, and Sardinia were no 
doubt, the primitive crypice, of great persons in the most remote periods of 
antiquity. Houel mentions similar constructions near Macara in Sicily, and 
thei'e are several of them in Sardinia, which are known by the name of JVora? 
gis ; perhaps from Norax, the founder of the town of Nora in that island." 



313 MODERN GREECE. 

had reached their highest degree of excellence,) yet, ceramic 
vases v/ould be discovered in great quantity, if we may judge 
from the numerous fragments which are seen scattered on all 
sides : they are generally of a coarse earth, and the spiral and 
zig-zag ornament, which is sculptured on the marbles near the 
' Treasury of Atreus,' is observed on most of the fictile frag- 
ments found among the ruins. These ornaments are generally 
painted black upon a yellow ground. No coins of Mycenae 
have ever been found, which may lead to a supposition that 
money was not struck in Greece before the demolition of that 
city by the Argians, which happened in the first year of the seven- 
ty-eighth Olympiad. (B.C. 468.) The only architectural 

fragment which I observed at Mycense, belonging to a Grecian 
order, was the half of a triglyph, in a soft, yellow stone, which 
measured ten inches in breadth ; the other half of the triglyph ■ 
was upon a separate stone, and the whole measured twenty 
inches in breadth. This fragment is in a small church, not far 
from the ' Treasury of Atreus.' " 

Pausanias mentions, as being on or near the road from Ar- 
gos to Mycenae, first, the altar of the sun, then the temple or 
Hieron of the Mysian Ceres, the tortib [Ta(pos) of Thyestes, and 
the heroic monument of Perseus. It remains to be ascertained 
what traces are yet discoverable of these edifices. About five 
miles from Argos, on the left side of the road. Dr. Clarke found 
the remains of an ancient structure, which he at first supposed 
to be those of the Hertsum ;* but Pausanias places that edifice 
to the left of the city, and upon the lower part of a mountain, 
near a stream called Eleutherion.f " Near to this structure, 

* This temple of Juno was once common to the two cities, when the twin 
brothers, Acrisius and Prcetus, grandsons of Belus, reig-ned at Mycenae and 
Argos. It stood forty stadia from the latter, and fifteen stadia from the former. 
" This renowned temple was adorned with curious sculpture and numerous 
statues. The image was very large, made by Polycletus of gold and ivory, 
sitting on a throne. Among the oiferings, was a shield taken by Menelaas from 
Euphorbus at Ilium ; an altar of silver, on which the marriage of Hebe with 
Hercules was represented ; a golden crown and purple robe given by Nero ; 
and a peacock of gold, set with precious stones, dedicated by Hadrian. Near 
it were the remains of a more ancient temple, which had been burned. — See 
Chandler's Travels in Greece, vol. ii. c. 55. This Traveller omitted to visit 
Mycenae : he paid little attention to any thing but Athens. Mr. Dodwell spent 
three days at Mycenae. 

t In Sir W. Gell's route from Mycenae to Tirynthus, he mentions at forty- 
three minutes from the stone of Perseus, (a distance which corresponds very 
nearly to fifteen stadia,) " a large church of the Panagia, near which rises a 
fine roaring stream, which very soon sinks into the ground ; four heaps to the 
right and one to the left." If the distance from Argos sufiiciently agrees, this 
may be thought to be the site of the Heraeum, though Sir W. Gell fixes on 
another spot, where there is no mention of any stream. See Ilin. pp. 164 and 
177. 



MODERN GREECE. 31.8 

however," adds this Traveller, " there was* another ruin, the 
foundations of which more resembled the oblong form of a tem- 
ple : it was built with baked bricks, and originally lined with 
marble. Here, then, there seems every reason to believe, we 
discovered the remains of the Hieron of Ceres Mysias." 

The road from Mycenae to Tiryns, now called Palaia Nauplia, 
appears to have abounded still more with objects of curiosity and 
interest than the road to Argos. On descending from the vil- 
lage of Krabata to tlie plain, Mr. Dodwell observed some an- 
cient traces near the foot of the hills, twenty minutes from the 
village. Hah' an hour more brought him to some other similar 
remains ; a few hundred paces from which is a church, con- 
structed with the ruins o-f a temple, containing two Doric fluted 
columns of small dimensions : a capital of the same order, but 
of an unusual size, serves as an altar. Here also were found 
some antefixa of terra cotta, adorned with painted foliage and 
mseanders. A short distance from this church is a second, 
which has also been constructed with the fragments of an ancient 
edifice. Several large blocks of stone are scattered about, and 
ihe frustum of a Doric column is seen, containing sixteen fiut- 
ings. Extensive foundations are observable in this vicinity 5 and 
tliere is also an ancient well and two oblong mounds of tarth, 
wdiich invite excavation. Seven minutes from this place, Mr. 
Dodwell passed through a village called Phonika, (a word sig- 
nif}dng »laughter,) where are some large blocks of stone and 
some T)ox\c frusta, near an ancient well, which he supposes may 
be the remains of a pyramidicai structure mentioned by Pausa- 
nias, which contains the shields of those who perished in a bat- 
tle between Proetos and Acrisius, fought near this spot. In 
eighteen minutes further, he came to a village named Aniphi ; 
and in ten minutes more, to the village of Platanita, where 
there is a ruined church with some large well-hewn blocks of 
stone, and a curious little Doric capital. Other vestiges of antiquity 
occur a quarter of an hour further, where the village of Mebaka is 
seen to tlie left ; and after passing over some other foundations, 
the villages of Kashi and Kofina are seen, situated at the base of 
two pointed hills, each of which is crowned with a church, pro- 
bably built with the remains of more ancient edifices. These 
hills are seen from Argos. In two hours and a half from Krabata, 
the traveller arrives at the ruins of Tiryns, distant forty minutes 
from the modern town of Nauplia or Napoli di Romania.* 

* Sir W. Gell gives a different route from Mycenae to Nauplia by Barbitza 
and Tirynthus ; distance 3 hours and 20 minutes. " Quitting the citadel, 
ascend between two mountains towards the west, to a stone, under which rises 
40 



314 MODERN GREECE. 



TIRYNS. 

" The town of Tiryns, like Athens, was situated in the plain 
encircling its acropolis. Time has not left one vestige of the 
town. The acropolis occupied a low oblong rock not thirty feet 
in height, standing N. and S., facing Nauplia and Mycenae. The 
walls enclose a space of about 244 yards in length, and 54 in 
breadth. They are constructed upon a straight line, without fol- 
lowing exactly the sinuosities of the rock. So small a fortress 
appears unworthy of the Tirynthian hero ; but, though the space 
which it occupies is small, the walls are truly Herculean. Their 
general thickness is 21 feet, and in some places they are 25. 
Their present height in the most perfect part is 43 feet. In some 
places, there are square projections from the wall in the form of 
towers, but the projection is very slight. The most perfect of 
these is at the S.E.'angle. Its breadth is 33 feet, and its height 
43 ; and when I looked from its summit, I recollected the death 
of Iphitos. 

" The acropolis of Tiryns appears to have had two entrances, 
of which the larger, nearly in the middle of the eastern wall, is 
of considerable size, and fronts the neighbouring hills. As the 
upper part of the gate has fallen, its original form cannot be as- 
certained; but it seems to have terminated in a point. On the 
opposite or western side, facing Argos, there is a pointed gate 
still entire, which is seven feet ten inches in breadth at the base, 
and nine feet in height, in its present state ; but a considerable 
part of it is, no doubt, concealed by the accumulation of earth 
and ruins. There is another gate of a similar form within the 
acropolis, the breadth of the present base being about five feet 
five inches, and the height, six feet eight. 

" The most curious remains of the citadel is a gallery, the 
opening of which faces Nauplia. It is of a pointed form, and is 

the fount of Perseus. In 8 min. from this, vestiges of a wall and small ancient 
bridge. In 7 niin. top of the pass, a tumulus on the right ; descend to the S. 
by a brook. In 20 min., the valley opens ; Mount Arachne on the left; in 5 
min. J the church of Agios Demetrios ; and in 3 min. more, the church of the 
Panagia, with a ' roaring stream' (alluded to in a former note as possibly the 
Heraeum). In 7 min., crossing the bed of a rivulet, a circular mount on the 
left ; and in 5 min., a small castle on an insulated hill, with a cave. In 6 min., 
chapel of St. George. In 4 min., ruins of a Roman octangular brick edifice, 
probably a bath ; Barbitza on a hill a mile and a half to the left. In 15 min., 
the road enters a narrow rocky glen called Kleissoura, in the bed of a torrent ; 
and in 17 min., it opens into the plain of Argos. In 65 min., cross the road 
from Argos to Epidauria. In 3 min., ruins of Tirynthus. In 30 min., enter 
Nauplia." 



MODERN GREECE. 31 6 

tiighty-four feet in length, and five in breadth. It is not easy to 
conjecture the use of this singular place. Others of a similar 
kind arc found in the most ancient Cyclopian cities of Gr^ce 
and Italy. The remains of some are observed at Argos, and 
others are seen among the ancient cities of Cora, Norba, Signia, 
and Alatrium, in Italy, the walls of which resemble those of Ti- 
ryns, Argos, and Mycenae. 

" All the exterior walls of Tiryns are composed of rough 
stones : the largest which I measured, was nine feet four inches 
in length, and four feet in thickness ; their usual size is from 
three feet to seven. The walls, when entire, were probably not 
less than sixty feet in height ; at least, so it would appear from 
the quanrity of stones which have fallen to the ground. Tiryns 
was destroyed by the Argians, as virell as Mycenae, about B.C. 
468. Within the acropolis are a few detached blocks, v/hich 
have been hewn, and which appear to have belonged to the 
gates. 

" The finest Cyclopian remains in Greece are the walls of 
Tiryns and Mycenae ; but they are both inferior to the more 
Cyclopian structures of Norba, in Latium, which was a Pelas- 
gian colony. Several other Pelasgic cities, whose wonderful 
ruins still remain in the mountainous districts of the Volsci, the 
Hernici, the Marsi, and the Sabini, exhibit walls of equal 
strength and solidity with those of Argolis. The ruins of Ti- 
ryns are situated in a deserted part of tlie plain. Toward the 
east, rise some barren hills, the quarries of which furnished the 
materials for the construction of the Tyrinthian acropolis. The 
prospect from this spot comprehends, in a rich and variegated 
assemblage of objects, the whole plain of Argos, with its moun- 
tains, its capital, and its gulf, the hills of Mycenae, the town of 
Nauplia, with its magnificent fortress, and, immediately below 
the eye, the Tirynthian ruins."* 

The walls of Tiryns, Mr. Dodwell thinks, in all probability 
remain nearly in the same state in which they were seen by 
Pausanias in the second century, as the town, which was deserted 
centuries before his time, does not appear to have been subse- 
quently inhabited. f He compares the walls, for their wonderflil 
strength and dimensions, to the Treasury of Minyas and the Py- 



" Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 249 — 52. 

t Tiryns (Ttpvvs or TipvvOa) is said to have taken this name from a son of 
Argos and brother of Amphytrion. Its original name was Haleis. The acro- 
polis is supposed to be mentioned by Strabo under the name of AvKifiva, per- 
haps from Lycimaios, the brother of Alcmena, who was killed at Tiryns, 



316 MODERN GREECE. 

ramids of Egypt. Dr. Clarke says, that the sight of them 
seemed to place him amid the ruins of Memphis. " The com- 
ing of an Egyptian colony to this part of Peloponnesus," he re- 
marks, " about fifteen centuries before our era, is a fact attested 
by the highest authority ; but there is something in the style of 
architecture here, which, when compared with other ruins of a 
similar nature, and added to a few historical facts, seems to 
prove it of Celtic, ratlier than of Egyptian origin. The Celts 
have left in Great Britain a surprising specimen of the Cyclo- 
pean style of architecture ; and it may be said of their temple at 
Stonehenge, that it has all the marks of a Phenician building ; 
hence a conclusion may be deduced, that the Celts were origin- 
ally Phoenicians, or that they have left in Phoenice monuments 
of their former residence in that country. If it be asked, in 
what region of the globe a taste originated for the kind of archi- 
tecture termed by the Greeks, Cyclopean, perhaps the answer 
may be, that it was cradled in the caves of India ; for many of 
these, either partly natural, or wholly artificial, whether originally 
sepulchres, temples, or habitations, are actually existing arche- 
types of a style of building yet recognised over all the western 
world, even to the borders of the Atlantic Ocean ; and the trav- 
eller who is accustomed to view these Cyclopean labours, how- 
ever differing in their ages, beholds in them, as it were, a series 
of family resemblances, equally conspicuous in the caverns of 
Elephanta, the ruins of Persepolis, the sepulchres of Syria and 
of Asia Minor, the remains of the most ancient cities in Greece 
and Italy, (such as Tiryns and Crotona,) and the more northern 
monuments of the Celts, as in the temples called Druidical, 
especially that of Stonehenge, in the south of England. The 
destruction of Tiryns is of such remote antiquity, that its walls 
existed nearly as they do at present, in the earliest periods of 
Grecian history, ^lian says, its inhabitants fed upon wild figs, 
and the Arcadians upon acorns. The prodigious masses of 
which they consist, were put together without cement; and they are 
likely to brave the attacks of time through ages even more nume- 
rous than those which have already elapsed since they were built. 
Owing to its walls, the city is celebrated in the poems of Ho- 
mer ;* and the satisfaction of seeing an example of the military 
architecture of the heroic ages, as it was beheld by him, is per- 
haps granted to the moderns only in this single instance. They 
have remained nearly in their present state above three thousand 
years. It is believed that they were erected long before the 

* " Whom strong Tirynthe's lofty walls surrtound." — Iliad, b. 3. 



MODERN GREECE. 317 

Trojan war. As to the precise period, chronologists are so little 
agreed with regard even to tlie arrival of the Phenician and Egyp- 
tian colonies under Cadmus and Danaus,that a difference of at least 
a century may be observed in their calculations. The celebrity 
of their citadel is ahnost all that is novir known of the Tyrinth- 
ians, excepting their natural tendency to mirth and frivolity."* 

All the ancient authorities agree, that the walls of Tiryns, as 
well as those of Mycenae, were built by the Cyclopeans ; and 
Apollodorus asserts, that they fortified the city for Proetus, the 
grandson of Belus, who is supposed to have lived B.C. 1379. f 
But who they were, and whence they originated, the ancient 
writers appear to have known as little as ourselves. The fable 
that they were the sons of Coelus and Terra, is a proof that their 
real history was lost. Euripides, however, more distinctly refers 
to the walls of Mycenae as having been built by the Cyclopeans 
after the Phenician rule and method. J It seems ceitain, that, 
whatever race they sprang fi'ora, they were strangers in Greece, 
and not autochthones ; and they appear to have been a sort of 
freemasons, who were employed to construct fortifications, light- 
houses, and other buildings, by means of their mysterious art. 
From the stupendous nature of some of their works, arose the 
most marvellous ideas of the architects ; and sometimes they 
were strangely confounded in fable. Thus, the true Cyclopean 
monster is very plausibly conjectured to be no other than a light- 
house with its one burning eye ; and Etna, as a stupendous 
natural pharos, was perhaps the Sicilian Polypheme. The three 
Cyclops of Sicily, and the seven Cyclops who, according to 
Strabo, were employed to build the walls of Tiryns, are alike 
supposed to have been the same number, respectively, of Cyclo- 
pean towers. Pliny says, that according to Aristotle, towers 
were invented by the Cyclopeans, but, according to Theophras- 
tus, by the Tirynthii. The fact is, that the word at length as- 
sumed a proverbial meaning, and the origin of Cyclopean, as now 
that of Gothic architecture, became lost in conjecture or fable. 
Thus Virgil makes them the architects of the infernal mansions.^ 
There is no reason to believe that they ever formed a Grecian 
colony, or that they constituted a nation. Argolis is termed by 
Euripides, " the land of the Cyclopeans ;"j| but this referred, no 
doubt, to the monuments of Cyclopean art for which it was fa- 
mous. Nothing is more natural, than that these architects should 

* Clarke, vol. vi. pp. 440 — 44. t See authorities in Dodwell. 

I Here. Fur. v. 944. § " Cydopum eduda caminis 

\\ Orestes, y. 963, Mxnia conspicio." — Mn. vi. 630- 



318 MODERN GREECE. 

have accompanied either a Phenician or an Egyptian colony to 
Greece, to whatever nation they themselves belonged, inasmuch 
as the arts have always followed in the wake of commerce ; but 
it seems most probable that they were of Phenician, or, if the 
reader please, of Celtic origin. If our notion be correct, that 
they were, like the Gothic architects of later times, a fraternity 
of freemasons, their appearance in different countries and at 
different eras, is easily accounted for ; since we must suppose 
that they would transmit their profession to successors. Thus 
we are told by the learned Annotator on Strabo, that there were 
no fewer than three distinct races of men who bore this appella- 
tion; but it is more probable that the race was the same, al- 
though the epoch and country differed. Some were no doubt 
more illustrious as architects than others, but they had no histo- 
rians or poets of their own to record their names. And, indeed, 
what is known of the architects of later times, who reared the 
feudal castle or the Gothic pile ? For the most part, their names 
are as completely lost as those of the builders of the pyramids or 
of Babel. One thing is remarkable, that wherever we trace 
these Cyclopean artists, they appear to have carried with them 
the worship of their great patron, the Phenician Hercules, or the 
Sun ; and the same deity was invoked by Electra as the ances- 
tral god of the royal house of Mycenae, that was worshipped by 
the Hyperboreans in their circular temples, of which Stonehenge 
is so remarkable a specimen. The latest efforts of Cyclopean 
art were probably those which were made in the most distant 
regions, and it is not impossible that the last Cyclop was a 
Druid.* 



NAPOLI (Nauplia). 

Modern Greece abounds with contrasts ; and the reader will 
already have been accustomed to transitions which pass over an 
interval of two or three thousand years, and recall him from the 
heroic ages of classic story, to the days when the Venetians and 
the Ottomans fought over the prostrate corpse of Greece, or 



* It may deserve investigation, whether there is any reference to these gi- 
gantic artists in Ezek. xxvii. 11, where, together with the men of Arvad, who 
were Phenicians, are mentioned the Gammadim, apparently as garrisoning 
(fortifying ?) the iowers of Tyre. Who these Gammadim were, is not agreed. 
The Chaldee renders it Cappadocians ; the Septuagint, Medes ; the Vulgate, 
Pigmies ; but Archbishop Newcome, Phenicians. The latter is probably the 
fact, but the meaning of the word remains an enigma. 



MODERN GREECE. 319 

to the later times of the present sanguinary contest. As the 
traveller enters Napoli from the ruins of Tiryns, the lion of St. 
Mai'k and the arms of the Republic over the gate, remind him 
that he is about to enter a modern capital. On the left, the 
grand and lofty rock Palamedi rises precipitously, crowned with 
a strong fortress, some houses for the garrison, and a mosque. 
The ascent to the fort is by a covered passage of five hundred 
steps, which are cut in the rock. It is one of the strongest po- 
sitions in Greece, and has been surnamed, from its situation and 
aspect, the Gibraltar of the Archipelago. " In appearance," 
says Count Pecchio, " it merits this epithet ; but with respect to 
its strength, I fear that it would be Gibraltar when in the hands 
of the Spaniards." The view from the sea is described as very 
striking and beautiful. The harbour of Napoli is formed by the 
abrupt projection of a steep cliff across the north-eastern side of 
the bay, and the houses rise up immediately from the water's 
edge along the nortiiern side of the cliff, at the foot of the gigan- 
tic and abrupt rock. The Palamedi castles, in appearance im- 
pregnable, are seen crowning the summit ;' they command both 
the town and the harbour. A palm-tree raises its head above 
the turretted walls, " like the banner of the climate." Argos 
and its beautiful plain lie in front of the Gulf, while the snowy 
summit of Taygetus rises on the left. In short, the whole of 
the scenery renders the sea-view of Napoli di Romania one of 
the most picturesque in the world. " But," continues this wri- 
ter, " as soon as the stranger puts his foot on shore, his enthu- 
siasm ceases, the enchantment disappears. The narrow streets, 
the meanly built houses, the air heavy and impregnated with fe- 
tid smells, strike him with disgust." 

" The interior of the town," says Mr. Emerson, who also 
visited it in 1825,* "contains nothing but miserably narrow, 

* Mr. Emerson reached Napoli from Tripolkza, and he thus describes his 
route : " After passing- the night at a little hamlet called Yaourg-itika, we set 
out for Napoli di Romania. Our road lay over, or rather down, the tremend- 
ous pass of the Parthenian Mountain : a narrow path, called the Bey's Cause- 
way, wound along the shelf of a terrific precipice, whilst on our left yawned a 
glen of tremendous depth, with a brawling stream toiling through its centre. 
After passing this sublime scene, which lasted for about one mile and a half, 
we entered on a small valley, which contained the ruins of a desolated khan, 
and having passed it, commenced ascending the last chain of bills which sepa- 
rated us from the Gulf of Napoli. The view here was sublime in the highest 
degree ; all around spread the most luxuriant but solitary hills ; the sun was 
oppressively warm, and myriads of glittering insects were sporting in his 
beams; a long team of camels were slowly winding up the steep ascent, whilst 
the tinkling of their bells, and the songs of their drivers, were softly floating 
down on the breeze. A short turn brought us in sight of the ocean ; the" deep 
dark-blue JEgeAn," slumbering beneath an almost breathless sky, with the 



320 MODERN GREECE. 

filthy streets, the greater part in ruins ; partly from the ridicu- 
lous custom of destroying the residences of the Turks, and partly 
from the effects of the cannon whilst the Greeks were battering 
the town from the little fort in the harbour. The remaining 
dwelling-houses are spacious, and some even comfortable. In 
all of them, the lower story is appropriated to the horses, and 
from this we ascend by a spacious staircase to the upper inhabi- 
ted apartments. The best house is that of the late Pacha, which 
is now the residence of Prince Mavrocordato. Trade seems 
totally destroyed at Napoli : before 1821, it was the depot of all 
the produce of Greece, and carried on a most extensive com- 
merce in sponges, • silk, oil, wax, and wines ; it now possesses 
merely a little traffic in the importation of the necessaries of life. 
The shops, like those of Tripolitza, are crowded vidth arms and 
wearing-apparel, and the inhabitants all carry either the Frank 
or Albanian armed costume. The climate is bad, and the place 
has been frequently ravaged by the plague, which, in one in- 
stance, towards the latter end of the last century, reduced the 
population from 8000 to 2000. 

" The unusual filth of the streets, and its situation, at the foot 
of a steep liill, which prevents the air from having full play to 
carry the effluvia arising from it, together with the dirty habits of 
an overstocked population, constantly attracted round the seat 
of the Government, subject it to almost continual epidemic fevers, 
which, both in the last winter, and at this moment, have com- 
mitted dreadful ravages. Its climate is, in fact, at all times thick 
and unhealthy, and far inferior to that of Athens, or of many of 
the towns in the interior of the Morea." 

Owing to these circumstances, and the fluctuating state of po- 
litical affairs, the present population of Napoli cannot be stated 
with any accuracy. Count Pecchio thought it might amount, in 
1825, to 15,000. "There can be no doubt," he says, " that, 
according to its scale, it is the most populous capital in the world ; 
for the houses are so small, and the people so confined, that in 
every room are found three or four inhabitants."* 

high rock of Napoli towering amongst the eminences on its shore. In another 
hour, our view opened widely, and we had an unrivalled prospect of the Argo- 
lic Bay, with Hydra and Spezzia on its distant entrance ; wliilst below us lay 
Napoli di Romania, Tirynthus, Argos, and the marsh of Lerna, the whole 
bounded by the distant chain of Epidaurus. A rapid descent brought us to 
the shore, and, in half an hour, after stowing our baggage on board a caique, 
at the little dogana of Mylos, we landed on the quay at Napoli." 

* " Nauplia," Mr. Dodwell says, " is supposed to contain about 4000 inhabi- 
tants, consisting of a mixed population of Greeks, Jews, and Turks: the ma- 
jority are Turks, who have five mosques, besides one in the fortress." The 
bazar seemed better stocked than any other in Greece. This was in 1805. Dr. 



MODERN GREECE, 321 

" The citadel," Mr. Emerson says, " is generally considered 
impregnable, and I believe, with any other soldiers than Greeks 
or Turks, it would be so. The former, in fact, only obtained 
possession of it by blockade, and when all the Turkish gunners 
on tlte hill had been reduced by famine to seven ! The fortifi- 
cations of the town are all Venetian, and consist of an extensive 
wall, now rather out of repair, three sea batteries, and one on the 
cliiFon which stands the town. One of those which commands 
the access to tlie town, is called La Batterie du Terre, and 
tnounts seven excellent brass 43-pounders; the second. La 
Batterie du Mer, is now converted into an arsenal and cannon- 
foundry ; the thii'd, called Les Cinq Peres, commands the town 
on the west and the entrance to the harbom", deriving its name 
from mounting five superb Venetian 60-pounders. On the whole, 
the city, if well garrisoned, might be considered as impregnable, 
at least to its present enemies." 

The port of Napoli, owing to the accumulation of mud, has 
become so shallow, that large vessels. Sir W. Gell says, would 
have difficulty in finding protection during a south wind. Still, 
it is one of the most valuable harbours in the Archipelago, and 
admirably adapted for a maritime capital. Mr. Waddington ex- 
presses his opinion, that when Greece shall be independent and 
united, under whatsoever form of government, Napoh will be 
definitively selected as the seat of the Executive. " The vicini- 
ty of this city to the luxuriant plain of Argos on one side, and to 
the commercial islands of the Archipelago on the other, its unas- 
sailable strength, and the security of its port, mark it out dis- 
tinctly for the capital of a mercantile country ; and such must 
Greece be, if it intend to be anything. I can perceive," he 
adds, " no other objection to it, than the large marsh which ex- 
tends from the head of the Gulf for two or three miles inland, 
and which renders the situation, at certain seasons, very unwhole- 
some. But this evil will be rapidly removed, as soon as ever 
Greek industry and enterprise shall be directed by a vigorous 
and intelligent government." This gentleman speaks of the city 
itself in much less unfavourable terms than Mr. Emerson and 
Count Pecchio. " Having been chiefly inhabited by Turks," 
he says, " it is by far the best built in Greece. The greater 
part of it has escaped the injuries of war, and the fortifications 
appear not to have sustained any damage." Sir William Gell 

Clarke found the population reduced to 2000 persons in 1801, by the ravages 
of the epidemic. Mr. Waddington estimated the inhabitants in 1824, at be- 
tween 7 and 8000, but adds, that, were the ruined portion skilfully reconstruct- 
ed, it would easily contain double that number. 

41- 



322 MODERN GREECE. 

describes it as having retained more of European architecture 
than any other town in the Morea. 

Napoli was uninhabited in the second century. Some re- 
mains of the walls, however, are still to be seen ; and their high 
antiquity, Mr. Dodwell says, is attested by the polygonal style in 
which they are constructed.* The site of the temple of Nep- 
tune, mentioned by Pausanias, is not known ; but the fountain 
Kanathos still boasts of a copious stream, though it has lost its 
pristine virtues. In its present state, Napoli presents few attrac- 
tions of any kind. " The diversions of this capital," says 
Count Pecchio, " consist of some ill-furnished coffee-houses and 
cracked billiards, with an evening promenade in a small square, 
overshadowed in the midst by a majestic plane-tree, and in the 
indulgence of an eager curiosity, constantly excited by news and 
anecdotes. Woman, that compensation for every calamity and 
privation, is invisible, as the men do not allow her to be seen."f 
This oriental seclusion of the women would seem, however, to 
be by no means uniform or absolute, if Mr. Emerson's descrip- 
tion of the festivities observed at Easter be accurate. As this v/ill 
serve to illustrate the manners of the Greek capital, it deserves 
insertion. 

" To-day (Sunday, April 10,) being the festival of Easter, 
Napoli presented a novel appearance, namely, a clean one., This 
feast, as the most important in the Greek Church, is observed 
with particular rejoicings. Lent having ceased, the ovens were 
crowded with the preparations for banqueting : yesterday, every 
street was reeking with the blood of lambs and goats ; and to- 
day, every house was fragrant with odours of pies and baked 
meats. All the inhabitants, in festival array, were hurrying 
along to pay their visits and receive congratulations. Every one 
as he met his friend, saluted him with a kiss on each side of his 

* They were attributed to Nauplios, son of Neptune and Amymone, from 
whom the town may be supposed to take its name, written 'NavirXiov by the 
inodern Greeks, Nauplia, Napoli, and Anapli by the Franks. 

t " The ancient Greeks," remarks the Count, "that they might preserve the 
manner of the fair sex pure, kept them almost from the contact of the air, 
and imprisoned them in the GyncECcnum. Subsequently, the Turks shut them 
up in harems ; and the Modern Greeks, through jealousy, keep them secluded 
from society." The Hon. Mr. Douglas confirms this account, stating that 
" Greek girls are so strictly confined to their homes, that few of their mar- 
riages are founded in personal acquaintance and attachment ;" but the be- 
trothed couple are allowed the liberty of seeing each other, and the lover is 
not forced, as in Armenia, to marry an unseen bride. " It is partly to this se- 
clusion," remarks this accomplished writer, " that we must refer the depravity 
in both sexes which yet disgraces the Greeks, but which exists to a much less 
extent with them than in the harems of their masters." (p. 158.) 



MODERN GREECK. 323 

face, and repeated the words XgLdzo^ avsdr?], Christ is risen. 
Tiie day was spent in rejoicings in every quarter : the guns 
were fired from flie batteries, and every moment, the echoes of 
the Palamedi were replying to the incessant reports of the pis- 
tols and tophaiks of the soldiery. As, on these occasions, the 
Greeks always discharge their arms widi a bullet, frequent acci- 
dents are the consequence. In the evening, a grand ceremony 
took place in the square. All the members of the Government, 
after attending Divine service in the church of St. George, met 
opposite the residence of the Executive Body : the Legislative, as 
being the more numerous, took their places in a line, and the 
Executive passing along with them from right to left, kissing com- 
menced with great vigour, the latter body embracing the former 
with all fervour and affection." 

On the evening of the following day, " the plain to the east of 
tlie town presented a lively and interesdng spectacle. The fine- 
ness of the day, together with the continuance of the festival, had 
induced crowds of the inliabitants to stroll round the walls and 
the plain. Numbers of beautifully-dressed females were assem- 
bled in groupes on the grass, listening to the guitar and the flute. 
Bands of horsemen, mounted on beautiful Arabians, were sweep- 
ing over the plain, hurling the djereed,^ and at the same time 
managing their spirited little steeds, with astonishing skill, wheel- 
ing round at the sharpest angle, and reining up at the shortest 
point in the midst of their utmost velocity. In every quarter, 
bands of musicians were surrounded with troops of dancers, per- 
forming their spiridess Romaika,-f and enlivening its whirling dul- 

* The djereed is a piece of wood, about four feet and a half in length, which 
is darted from the hand at full gallop, and is shunned either by bending the 
body, or by warding it off with another djereed. Sometimes a skilful horseman 
will throw it to the distance of sixty or seventy yards. This game is common 
to all the Oriental nations, and the Turks are very fond of it. 

t The Romaika is the Cretan or Daedalian dance of the ancients, and is thus 
accurately described by Homer. (II. lib. xviii.) 

" A fiffured dance succeeds 



-a comely band 



Of youths and maidens, bounding hand in hand ; 

The maids in soft cymars of linen drest, 

The youths all graceful in the glossy vest. 

* ■ « * « * 

Now all at once they rise, at once descend ; 

With well-taught feet, now shape in oblique ways, 

Confus'dly regular, the moving maze: 

Now forth at once, too swift for sight they spring, 

And undistinguished blend the flying ring. 

So whirls a wheel in giddy circle tost, 

And rapid as it runs the single spokes are lost." Pope. 



324 - MODERN GREECE. 

ness by the rapid discharge of their pistols ; while groupes of 
children, in fancy dresses and crowned with flowers, were sport- 
ing round their delighted parents. No one,' to have witnessed 
this scene, could have supposed himself in the midst of a country 
suffering under the horrors of war, or surrounded by hundreds 
of families, scarcely one of whom could congratulate itself on not 
having lost a friend or brother in the conflict."* 

In this description, Mr. Emerson, apparently, confounds the 
Romaika with other popular dances. f In their passion for these 

" Whether they meet within the corridor of the house, or around some favour- 
ite well and agiasma, no evening passes in the summer monihs," says the Hon, 
Mr. Douglas, " in which the young people of both sexes, adorned with all the 
simple finery of garlands and flowers, and their hair floating in primitive lux- 
uriance on their necks, 

' C(ssariem effuscB nitidam per Candida colla,' 
do not assemble to dance the Romaika. The music generally cotisists of vio- 
lins and rustic pipes ; and the tune begins with slow and distinct notes, in- 
creasing with the spirits of the dancers, into the most lively and animating 
measures. They move, holding each other by the hand, in a circle composed 
alternately of young men and girls ; and the dance is led by some nymph 
chosen from the rest for her grace and beauty, who holds one extremity of a 
handkerchief (' rtstim ductans'), while the other is in the hand of the Coryphaeus 
of the youths. They begin in slow and solemn step, till they have gained the 
time ; but, by degrees, the air becomes more sprightly ; the conductress of the 
dance sometimes setting to her partner, sometimes darting before the rest, and 
leading them through the most rapid evolutions ; sometimes crossing under 
the hands which are held to let her pass, and giving as much liveliness and in- 
tricacy as she can to the figures into which she conducts her companions, while 
their business is to follow her in all her movements, without breaking the chain 
or losing the measure : i 

' Qualis in Eurotce ripis, aut per juga Cynthi, 
Exercet Diana clioros.' " 

One beautiful evening, the Writer saw above thirty parties engaged in dancing 
the Romaika upon the sands of the sea-shore, in the then happy island of Scio. 
In some of these groupes, the girl who was leader would chase the retreating 
wave, and it was in vain that her followers hurried their steps ; some were ge- 
nerally caught by the returning sea, and all would court the laugh, rather than 
break the indissoluble chain. Near each party was seated a groupe of pa- 
rents and elder friends enjoying the sport, which recalled the days of their own 
youthful gayety. This dance, composed in imitation of the windings of the 
labyrinth of Dsedalus, has also received, not unaptly, the name ofTepavos, the 
crane, from its resembling, in its involutions, the order in which a flight of 
cranes follow their conductor. — See Douglas, p. 118 — ^23. 
* Picture of Greece, vol. i. p. 98 — 103. 

t " The modern Greeks are not without the imitation of the Pyrrhic 
dance of their ancestors, whether we discover it in the barbarous Mbanitico, 
or more particularly in the combat of the shield and sword which is acted 
by the mountaineers of Sphachia. The Mbaniiico is generally performed 
exclusively by men, who follow two leaders much in the way practised in 
the Romaika, except that the excellence of the Albanitic Coryphsei consists 
in the most powerful exertions of strength and activity without grace ; in 
stooping to the ground and rising suddenly, in leaping to vast heights, 
but, especially, in shuffling their feet together, and darting them from 



MODERN GREECE. 525 

amusements, so accordant with the liveliness of the national cha-^ 
racter, tlie difference between the modern Greek and llie Tm'k 
is strongly marked. The latter, like the Romans,* regards the 
dance as unmanly and degrading, seldom (if ever) joining in it 
liimself, and deriving his only pleasure, in witnessing the per- 
formance, from the stupidest and most disgraceful indecency. In 
some of their other customs and amusements, it is difficult to de- 
termine whether the Greeks have borrowed from their Turkish 
masters, or whether the latter have adopted those of the ancient 
Greeks. f The prevailing costume is decidedly oriental. Count 
Pecchio, describing the manners of the citizens of Napoli, says, 
" The fact is, the Greeks sit a la Turque ; they eat pilaw a la 
Turque ; they smoke with long pipes ; they write with their left 
hand ; they walk out accompanied by a troop of armed people ; 
they salute, they sleep, and they loiter about : all a la Turque. 
Instead of abandoning the habits of their oppressors, they appear, 
since the Revolution, only to have followed them even more 
closely. They make a display of wearing the turban trimmed 
with white, and the red papoiiches, and of throwing round them 
the green cafetan ; three terrible prohibitions in the time of Turk- 
ish despotism." On paying a \asit to the members of the Gov- 
ernment, he found them squatting on cushions in the Turkish 

under them \vith great velocity, and without losing their balance, while 
th'ey animate one another by the wildest exclamations. In this awkward 
amusement, we may perceive a resemblance to the dance which was the 
favourite sport of the courtiers of Alcinous. (Odys. lib. viii.)" Douglas on 
the Modern Greeks, p. 124. 

* It is not agreed, whether Horace refers to the indecency of any particular 
dance, or reprobates the practice in general as infamous, when he says : (Od. 
6. lib. iii.) 

" Motus doceri gaudet lonicos 
Matura virgo." 

Sallust, in a passage cited by Macrobius, speaks of a woman's singing and 
dancing more elegantly than was reputable : — " psaUere, saltare elegantius 
quam necesse est, probce ; nimirum matronce aut virgini." Athenseus, on the 
contrary, maintains that it is wise and honourable to be a good dancer ; and 
Jupiter himself is represented as figuring in that capacity in the midst of the 
immortals. Among the Hebrews, dancing was a religious rite, expressive of 
sacred exultation. Thus we find David dancing before the ark. The most 
degrading exhibitions of this nature are now performed ip eastern capitals by 
Jewish dancers. By this passion, Hippoclides is stated by Herodotus to have 
lost the daughter of Clisthenes and the kingdom of Corinth. 

t An exercise not unlike that of the ancient Discus, is a favourite one with 
the Turks : it consists in throwing stones of a great weight beyond a certain 
boundary. The Turkish mode of wrestling is, probably, borrowed from the 
Greeks. Their architecture and modes of husbandry are clearly derived from 
the same source. The love of garlands and the mystic language of flowers, 
seem also to be referrible to the taste and fancy of this imaginative people, 
though adopted by the now voluptuous Ottomans. 



326 MODERN GREECE. 

mode. "The costume, the reclined position, and the serious 
immobility of countenance of every member, made me," he says, 
" at first believe myself before a divan. The vice-president Bot- 
zaris, vi^ith his legs crossed, v^^as counting the beads of an orien- 
tal rosary ; the rest of the members, clad in a costume between 
Grecian and Turkish, were either smoking or running over a simi- 
lar trinket." For a palace, the Executive Body possessed at 
this time a large Turkish house, the ground-floor of which was a 
yStable, the second story a barrack, and the third, the bureau or 
office of state ; — " a plain, small room surrounded with a divan, 
and ornamented with a large French chart of Greece and its 
islands," with a plain deal table in the centre. The Legislative 
Body was not better lodged, but was about to transfer its sittings 
to a mosque, which had been fitted up as a senatorial chamber. 
Mavrocordato dresses a la Franpaise, and the European and 
Albanian costumes are to be seen mingling with the turban and 
robe of the orientals. 

Much of what is now regarded as characteristically Turkish, 
is, however, undoubtedly of classical origin. The turban is ex- 
clusively Mohammedan ; but it may be doubted whether the long 
ced trowsers and the yellow buskins are not as much Grecian as 
Turkish. The E/xSadas, the Hon. Mr. Douglas remarks, must 
have been very similar to the papouches or slippers, which are 
only put on when they leave the house, and are left at the door 
of the room on their return. The macrama, or veil, now worn' 
by the Grecian ladies, and the richness of which often distin- 
guishes the rank of the wearer, is so different from the awkward 
ishmak in which the heads of the Turkish ladies are swaddled, 
that we may safely derive it from the KaXvjirga of the Greeks.* 
The cestus, with its rich embroidery and heavy silver bosses, is 
still the pride of the Grecian fair ; and the full eye and golden 
hair so highly prized by the ancients, do not less belong to the 
modern standard of beauty. f The bath is equally prized by 
both sexes. J " The very existence of the Romaic ladies," says 

* The macrama bears a close resemblance to <he Spanish mantilla, which has 
been supposed to be derived from the Moors ; but the Moors, no doubt, them- 
selves borrowed it from the Orientals. 

t From the meanest peasant to the finest lady of Constantinople, the greatest 
attention is paid to the hair, on which is lavished a profusion of ointments and 
cosmetics ; and sometimes gilt wire and various other ornaments are twined 
with the ringlets which float over their shoulders. A beautiful auburn (aurei 
capilli) is the most common colour. 

I Even Sir William Gell admits, that " the Greeks, though an oppressed, 
can scarcely be called a dirty people; and in spite of prejudice, it maybe 
doubted whether the shoes and stockings of the North do not conceal more im- 
purity than the earth and air create on the exposed legs of the southern pea- 
sant, who cannot retire to rest without washing them," — JYarrative, p. 155. 



MODERN GREECE. 327 

Mr. Douglas, "seems almost to depend upon this gratifica- 
tion ; and the too frequent indulgence in it, is probably one of 
tlie great causes of that early decay of beauty which is so often 
the subject of their regret." Indeed, with them the bath is a 
sort of public assembly ; and the scenes which there take place, 
where there is no restraint on the loquacity still distinguishing 
the Grecian fair, are said to equal the strangest pictures drawn 
by their great Comedian. In their marriage ceremonies,* as 
well as in their funereal rites,f m their diet,J and in their fond- 
ness for the juice of the grape,§ the modern Greeks preserve a 
close resemblance to their ancestors in the days of Homer and 
of Catullus. The judicious practice of establishing all their 
burial-grounds witliout the walls of their towns, is also borrowed 
from the ancients. The funereal cypress, which the Greek 
rayahs are forbidden to plant, has been stolen from them by the 
Turks ; and even the crescent, the symbol of the Othraan ascen- 
dency, was adopted by the conqueror of Constantinople from 
tlie nation wliich he subdued. 

FROM NAPOLI TO EPIDAURUS. 

The narrow plain in which Napoli stands, is bounded by bar- 
ren eminences of a dull and uniform aspect, which anciently sep- 
arated the Argian territory from that of Epidaurus. The name 
of the latter city, once the rival of Argos, Corinth, and Egina, 
has again acquired a sort of celebrity from its being employed to 
designate the code adopted by the legislature of Modern Greece. 
The cliief object of mterest in its vicinity is the remains of the 

* " Catullus, in his Epithalamium, has meafioned no event consistent with 
the change of the religion, which does not take place at the wedding of a 
modern Greek. Catullus himself, however, is not so accurate in his descrip- 
tion of this ceremony as Homer. Upon the shield of Achilles may yet 
be traced the most lively features in the customs of his country." — Douglas, 
p. 112. 

t See Douglas on Mod. Greeks, p. 134 — 7. 

% " Olives, honey, and onions are now, as they were formerly, the food of 
the lower classes, while rice and fish constitute the principal articles in the 
cookery of the rich. Salted olives, under the name of columbades, form the 
constant food of all the Levantine sailors. They are larger and more succu- 
lent than the green olives of France and Spain, and are a substantial and nu- 
tritious food." — Ibid. p. 138. 

§ " Grcecare was the term by which a nation not remarkable itself for 
sobriety, described this vice ; and almost all the other Latin words that have 
allusion to drinking, seem borrowed from the same source. In this respect, at 
least, the Grecian character has not changed. The intemperance which exu- 
berant happiness encouraged, is now resorted to under calamity, as the water 
of Lethe."— /6irf. p. 138. 



o28 MODERN GREECE. ' 

sacred grove and temple of Esculapius, at a place still called 
lero or Yero, a corruption of ifpor.* 

The route from Napoli lies eastward over the plain to the vil- 
lage of Kakingra, (or Katchingri,) distant about fifty minutes. 
A few hundred paces from this village are slight remains of an 
ancient edifice. The church of Agios Adrianos forms a con- 
spicuous object on a pointed acclivity to the right, near which, 
on a bold rock, are ruins of a small pa?aio kastro, the walls of 
polygonal construction. Tiles, stones, and other obscure ves- 
tiges are found a little further, near a deep ravine, which the 
traveller crosses -, and beyond it, the monastery of Agios Deme- 
trius is seen in a secluded glen to the left. At the extremity of 
the valley, Mr. Dodwell noticed an ancient tower, composed of 
small but well-joined polygons, and repaired with mortar,- — 
" one of the fiovoTcvgym, or single tower-forts, erected to guard 
the passage from the territory of Epidaurus to that of Nauplia, 
from the castle of which it is distant two hours, forty minutes." 
Half an hour from this ruin brings the traveller to the remains of 
a small ancient city and fortress, constructed in the second and 
third styles, and fortified with a few round and square towers. 
The fortress has been repaired in modern times, and the place 
must always have been of importance, as it commands the pass 
to Napoli. Mr. Dodwell supposes it to be the site of Midea, 
which, according to ApoUodorus, was fortified by Perseus, but 
was in ruins before the time of Pausarias. Sir William Gell, 
however, supposes the palaio Jcastro near Agios Adrianos to be 
Midea ; and the site in question is apparently the same that Dr. 
Clarke considers to be Lessa. The latter Traveller crossed the 
Argolic peninsula in a contrary direction. " After journeying 
for about an hour," (from Ligurio,) " through a country resem- 
bling many parts of the Apennines, we saw," he says, " a vil- 
lage near the road, with a ruined castle upon a hill to the right, 
where the remains of Lessa are situate. This village is half 
way between Ligurio and Nauplia ; and here was the ancient 
boundary between Epidauria and the Argive territory.... Lessa 
was but a village in the time of Pausanias, as it now is, but it 
was remarkable for a temple and wooden image of Minerva ; 
and upon the mountain above the village, perhaps where the 
castle now stands, there were altars of Jupiter and Juno, where- 
on sacrifices were offered in times of drought. The mountain 
then bore the name of Arachnoius Mons : its more ancient ap- 
pellation, under Inachus, had been Sapyselaton." 

Mr. Dodwell, on the other hand, says that Ligurio (written by 

* By Chandler incorrectly written Germ. 



MODERN GREECE, 320 

Sir W. Gell, Lykourio) answers to tlie position of Lessa. This 
is a large village about five hours from Nauplia,* occupying the 
site of a small ancient city, which stood upon an oblong rock at 
tlie foot of some barren hills, (part of Mount Arachne,) and at 
the entrance of the Epidaurian plain. " The walls of the town 
are very much ruined : the parts still entire are in the third 
style. INlany blocks and heaps are scattered about, but nothing 
approaching to a perfect building is left." About a mile before 
entering Ligurio, at a place called Agia Marina, there is a 
church with vestiges of antiquity ;f and a fountain near the road, 
forms a small subterraneous aqueduct, by which water is still 
conveyed to the village. Other churches, monasteries, and 
towers occur between Ligurio and Agios Adrianos ; and the 
entire way from Nauplia appears to have been strongly fortified 
and thickly peopled. 

" In an hour and forty minutes from Ligurio,"J Mr. Dodwell 
says, " we arrived at the first ruins of the sacred enclosure, 
at present laiown by tlie name of lero." The road he took, 
left on the right the villages of Peri and Koroni. The plain had 
a luxuriant appearance, being covered with corn-fields, and vine- 
yards : from the latter, " a more palatable, and less resinous 
wine is produced, than that which is generally found in this part of 
Greece." The name of Koroni is remarkable, because the 
nymph Coronis is fabled to have been the mother of ^Esculapius. 
In passing through this village, the inhabitants of which are 
chiefly shepherds, Dr. Clarke noticed a noble race of dogs, sim- 
ilar to the breed found in the province of Abruzzo in Itt«ly, 
and. which, by a pardonable license of imagination, may be 

* In the Itinerary, 5 h. 48 mia. from Nauplia, and 1 h. 46 min. from the pass 
where Dr. Clarke places Lessa. Sir W. Gell agrees with Mr. Dodwell in 
placing it at Lykourio, following Chandler. 

t " At the church of Jlgia Marina are two Ionic columns, and the foundation 
of a pyramid or tower with inclining walls." — Gell's liinerary. Chandler 
mentions this ruin : it is a quadrangular structure about forty feet square. Dr. 
Clarke speaks of it in the following terms : " Upon the left-hand side of the 
road we observed an Egyptian sepulchre, having apj'ramidal shape and agree- 
ing so remarkably, both as to form and situation, with a monument described 
by Pausanias, that we believed ourselves to be actually viewing the identical 
tomb seen by him." The tomb alluded to was, however, nearer Argos, and is 
the one of which Mr. Dodwell supposes that traces still exist at Phonika. (see p^ 
84 ) " The pyramidal form may therefore," Dr. Clarke adds, " have been 
common to many ancient sepulchres in Argolis." He mentions also some 
other tombs, in the road to. Nauplia, "that were remarkable in having large 
rude stones of a square form, {XiQoq rpa^;,) placed upon the top of the mound, 
{X''>l^a)," and answering to the description given by Pausanias of the tumulus 
raised by Telamon upon the shore of Egina. 

t A singular inaccuracy, if Sir W. Gell be correct : he makes the distance 
from Lykourio to lero only 46 minutes. 

42 



330 MODERN GREECE. 

supposed to have descended from the classical breed of the days 
of ^sculapius. It was a shepherd's dog who guarded the in- 
fant demi-god when exposed upon Mount Titthion ; and a repre- 
sentation of the faithful animal was deemed a proper accompani- 
ment to his statue. 



GROVE OF AESCULAPIUS. 

The Hieron Alsos, or Sacred Grove, is situated in a small 
but beautiful valley, surrounded with high mountains. One of 
superior elevation, bounding the prospect on the eastern side, is 
supposed to be the ancient Titthion, which appears to have de- 
rived its name from the two mammiform eminences that compose 
its double summit.* Mount Arachne forms the mountain bar- 
rier on the north-west. These lofty eminences are characterized 
by rugged sterility, and by an undulating, uniform outline : they 
are sprinkled with a variegated assemblage of dark-coloured 
shrubs, particularly the lentiscus, juniper, and myrtle. 

Besides the grove and temple of jEsculapius, the consecrated 
enclosure contained a theatre, a stadium, a temple of Diana, 
another of Venus and Themis, a stoa or portico, and a fountain 
remarkable for its roof and decorations : to these Antoninus Pius 
added, a bath, a hospital for the sick, a temple [isgov) of the 
gods Epidotai, and another (vaoi ) consecrated to the associated 
divinities Hygeia, ^sculapius, and the Egyptian Apollo. This 
splendid establishment was resorted to by invalids from all parts 
of Greece ; and the officiating ministers of the presiding deity, 
who were at once priests and physicians, were venerated not 
only by the Greeks, but by distant nations. Other temples, in 
imitation of this, were afterwards erected in different parts of 
Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy ; but this, as being the supposed 
birth-place of ^sculapius himself, maintained the pre-eminence, 
and for many centuries attracted numerous votaries from all 
quarters. 

The first object that meets the eye, on approaching from Ko- 
roni, is a considerable ruin, which has at a distance the appear- 
ance of a castle, but proves to be a square edifice , of Roman 
brick, conjectured by Dr. Clarke to be the hospital erected by 
Antoninus Pius (while a senator) for the reception of lying-in 
women and dying persons. Further on, are traces of a large 
building, divided into several chambers, and stuccoed. This is 

* From Tij-dos, mamma, or teat. 



MODERN GREECE. 331 

evidently the bath of TEsculapius, built by the same noble Ro- 
man. A stone spout is still seen in the wall, whence the water 
entered from a subterranean conduit, communicating, probably, 
with the great fountain noticed by Pausanias.* Of the once 
celebrated temple, obscure vestiges alone remain. Mr. Dod- 
well found the remains of two temples, now level with the ground, 
which is strewed with elegant fragments of the Doric and Ionic 
orders in marble and in stone, but not of large dimensions. The 
pavement of one of the temples is entire ; it is composed of large 
slabs of the marble of die country, which is of a light red veined 
with white. This, from its superior size, is probably the temple 
of jEsculapius. Contiguous to this temple are the supposed re- 
mains of the Tkolos, a circular edifice built by Polycletus, of 
white marble. Several blocks belonging to die exterior of the 
builgling are covered with inscriptions.! Near the great temple 
is the stadium, formed chiefly of high mounds of earth. ' There 
are fifteen rows of seats at the upper end, but these extend only 
a few yai'ds along the sides, the rest being uncovered. A sub- 
terraneous vaulted passage, now choked up with rubbish, led 
into the area : this. Chandler supposes to have been a private 
way by which the agonothetce, or presidents, and other persons 
of disdnction entered ; but it was more probably designed for the 
horses and chariots. 

Of all the ancient remains, however, the theatre is the grand- 
est and the best preserved. Pausanias speaks of it as the most 
beautiful he had ever seen. The koilon, which, as usual, is 
scooped in the side of a rocky hill, is in nearly perfect preserva- 
tion. Fifty-four seats are remaining, formed of the pink marble 
found near the spot. They are worked with more care than in 
the other Grecian theatres, and, Mr. Dodwell thinks, "were 
evidently contrived with all due attention to the accommodation 
of a feeble audience of convalescents. The height of each seat 
is one foot two inches and a half, and the breadtli, two feet nine 
inches and a fifth. About the middle of the seat is a nai'row 
channel or groove, in which wood-work was probably fixed, in 

* " Two large cisterns, or reservoirs, remain, made by Antoninus for the 
reception of ram wa^er ; one measured 99 feet long and 37 wide." — Chand- 
ler. 

t Dr. Clarke, however, describing apparently the same structure, says : 
" The circular building is too modern in its aspect, and too mean in its mate- 
rials, for the Tholus of Pausanias, of white marble, built by Polycletus, archi- 
tect of the theatre ; but it may, perhaps, correspond better to the fountain 
which he alludes to as remarkable for its roof and decorations ; this kind of 
roof being almost unknown in Greece. The building, although smaller, bears 
some resemblance to the well-known bath improperly called the temple of Ve- 
nus at Bai«." It is covered with " a dome, with arches round the top." 



332 MODERN GREECE. 

order to prevent the backs of the spectators from being incoHi" 
moded by the feet of those who sat in the rows behind them,* 
and also to serve as a rest for the weak shoulders of a valetudi- 
nary audience. The seats are not perfectly horizontal, but incline 
gently inwards." This may have been designed, as Dr. Clarke 
suggests, to prevent the rain from resting upon them, rather 
than, as Mr. Dodwell imagines, to render the position of sitting 
more easy. The theatre forms considerably more than a semi- 
circle, nearly reserablmg in form that of Bacchus at Athens. 
The seats, which- have only one division or pracinctio, are inter- 
sected at right angles by about twenty flights of small steps, 28 
1-2 inches wide, leading from the bottom to the top of the thea- 
tre. The seats are now nearly covered with bushes of lentiscus, 
which, by insinuating its roots between the interstices of tj?e 
marble, loosens the stones, and enlarges the fissures of those 
which are already disjointed. At the foot of the koilon, thefe is 
a throTios of white marble, formed, as usual, out- of a single 
block. The theatre faces the north ; and this aspect. Dr. Clarke 
supposes to have been purposely chosen, as, with the mountain 
towering behind it, it would protect the whole edifice from the 
beams of the sun during a great part of the day ; and in this sul- 
try valley, a shaded theatre must have been particularly desirable 
for invalids. f It is evident that the whole has been arranged 
with the nicest regard to luxury as well as convenience. The 
salutary waters of the Hieron flow in the deep bed of a torrent 
immediately below. The diameter of the conistra, or pit, in the 
widest part, is 105 feet; but the width of the orchestra is not 
quite 90 feet, owing to the form of the theatre. 

Dr. Ckrke found the theatre tenanted by a variety of animals, 
which werie disturbed by his approach, — shares, red-legged par- 
tridges, and tortoises ;J and his fellow-traveller caught, among 
some myrdes, a beautiful snake about a yard in length, shining 

* This " groove," dug out of the solid mass of stone composing the seat, is 18 
inches wide, and was evidently intended for the reception of the feet, though 
it is very questionable whether any wood-work was fixed in it, as Mr. Dodwell 
imagines. The seats of the stadium at Delphi, and those of the theatre at 
Stratonicea in Asia Minor, are nearly similar to those at Epidaurus. Ovid 
alludes to the inconveniences which arose in theatres where the seats had no 
such separation for the feet. (Amor, iii 23.) 

" Tu quoque qui spectas post nos, tua contrahe crura, 
Si pudor est, rigido necpremi terga genu." 

t The Greeks were frequently obliged to carry umbrellas (oKtaSia) with them 
into their theatres, and the women were attended by their umbrella-bearers 
{iTKtairidopoi) ; either as a precaution against the casualties of the weather, or 
as a defence against the san. 

X The tortoises of Mount Citheeron were sacred to Pan, as the serpents of 
■!Epiclauria were to jEsculapius. 



MODERN QBEECE. 333 

like burnished gold. The peasants, he tells us, knew it lo be a 
harmless species which thty had been accustomed to regard 
witli superstitious veneration, deeming it unlucky in any person 
to injure one. " It was, in hct, one of the curious brepd de- 
scribed by Pausanias as peculiar to the country of the Epidau- 
rians, which were always harmless, and of a yellow colour."* 

Besides these ruins, the same Traveller mentions a subterra- 
neaii building, resembling a small chapel^ which he supposes to 
have been a bath. Near it was a stone coffin, containing frag- 
ments of terra cctta vases. " But the most remarkable relics 
withia the sacred precinct," he says, " were architectural remains 
in terra cotta. We discovered the ornaments of a frieze and 
part of a cornice, which had been manufactured in earthen- 
ware. Some of these ornaments had been moulded for relievos, 
and others, less perfectly baked, exhibited painted surfaces. 
The colours upon the latter still retained much of their original 
freshness : upon being wetted, they appeared as vivid as when 
first laid on. They were a bright straw-yellow and, red." The 
learned Traveller supposes tliem to have belonged to the stoa or 
portico, the roof of which, Pausanias states, falling in, caused 
the destruction of the whole edifice, owing to the nature of its 
materials, which consisted of crude tiles [/ilivOov). On the top 
of a hill towards the east,w hich is ascended by an ancient road, 
Dr. Clarke found the remains of a temple, with steps leading to 
it, which he-believes to have been that of the Coryphsean Diana, 
upon Mount Cynortium. An imperfect inscription which he dis- 
covered here, mentions a priest of Diana, who had commemor- 
ated liis escape from some disorder. " By the side of this tem- 
ple was a bath or reservoir, lined with stucco, 30 feet by 8, 
with some lumachella columns of the Doric order. The foun- 
dations and part of the pavement of the temple yet exist ; they 
are not less than 60 paces in length. We noticed," he con- 
tinues, " some channels grooved in the marble for conveying 
water in different directions. The traces of buildings may be 
observed upon all the mountains which surround the sacred val- 
ley ; and over all tills district, their remains are as various as 

" " With burnished neck of verdant gold 

• pleasing- was his shape, 

And lovely ; nevei' since of serpent kind 

Lovelier, not those that in lUyria changed 

Hermione and Cadmus, or the God 

In Epidaurus, nor to which transformed 

Ammonian Jove orCapitoline was seen ; 

He with Olympias ; this with her who bore 

Scipio, the height of Rome." Par. Lost, b. ix. 



o34 MODERN GREECE. 

their history is indeterminate. Some of them seem to have been 
small sanctuaries, like chapels : others appear as baths, foun- 
tains, and aqueducts. We next came to a singular and very 
picturesque structure, with more the appearance of a cave than of 
a building : it was covered with hanging weeds, overgrown with 
bushes, and almost buried in the mountain. The interior exhib- 
ited a series of circular arches in two rows, supporting a vaulted 
roof; the buttresses between the arches being propped by short 
columns. Possibly, this may have been the building which 
Chandler, in his dry way, calls a church, without giving any de- 
scription of it, where, besides fragments, he found an in- 
scription to ' far-darting Apollo.' He supposes the temple of 
Apollo,which was upon Mount Cynortium, to have stood upon 
this spot."* 

It is not known to what circumstances the destruction of this 
place is to be ascribed. Livy speaks of the temple of jEscula- 
pius as in ruins ; from which state it was evidently raised, Mr. 
Dodwell remarks, long after that period. The work of de- 
molition has been at least completed in recent times. Chandler 
says : " The whole neighbourhood has for ages plundered the 
grove. The Ligurians remember the removal of a marble chair 
from the theatre, and of statues and inscriptions, which, among 
other materials, were used in i-epairing the fortifications of Napoli, 
or in building a new mosque at Argos." Many valuable antiqui- 
ties are doubtless concealed under the confused piles of accumu- 
lated ruins ; and the labours of an excavation would, in all prob- 
ability, be amply repaid. Mr. Dodwell found some specimens 
of a most beautiful green porphyry, which he had never seen be- 
fore, and which, he says, is unknown even at Rome, where all 

* " Going up the water-course between the mountains is a church, where, 
besides fragments, we found a short inscription : ' Diogenes the hierophant to 
far-darting Apollo, on account of a vision in his sleep.' Apollo had a temple on 
Mount Cynortium, probably on this spot ; and on a summit beyond are other 
traces, it is likely, of a temple of Diana." — Chandler. The following- ac- 
count of the customs observed by the patients, will explain the inscription. 
" Near the temple is a spacious hall, in which those v/ho came to consult 
^sculapius, after having deposited on the holy table some cakes, fruits, and 
other offerings, pass the night on little beds. One of the priests bids them 
keep a profound silence, whatever noise they may hear, resign themselves to 
sleep, and be attentive to the dreams ichich .ilie god shall send them. He after- 
wards extinguishes the light, and takes care to collect the offerings with which 
the table is covered. Some time after, the patients imagine they hear the 
voice of ^jcnlapius ; whether any sound be conveyed by some ingenious ar- 
tifice, or the priest, returning into the hall, mutters some words near their bed ; 
or whether, in fine, in the solemn stillness which surrounds them', their imagi- 
nation realizes the recitals and the objects by which it has never ceased to be 
acted on since their arrival at the temple," — Akacharsis, vol. iv. chap. 53.. 



MODERN GREECE. 335 

ihe rich marbles of the world seem to have been collected. The 
sacred grove is now reduced to some scattered shrubs and 
bushes, and the dull and monotonous aspect of the surrounding 
country accords with the total desolation of the scene. " The 
remains, such as they are," remarks Dr. Clarke, " lie as they 
were left by the votaries of the god. No modern buildings, not 
even an Albanian hut, has been constructed among them, to 
confuse or to conceal their topography. The traveller walks at 
once into the midst of the consecrated peribolus, and, from the 
traces he beholds, may picture to his mind a correct representa- 
tion of this once celebrated watering-place, the Cheltenham of 
ancient Greece, — as it existed when thronged by the multi- 
tudes who came hither for relief or relaxation." There is yet a 
fountain, Sir W. Cell says, the waters of v^hich are reputed to 
have medicinal virtue ; and Chandler speaks of springs and 
wells by the ruins, which " are supposed to possess many excel- 
lent properties ;" but what those properties are, does not appear 
to have been ascertained. It is much to be regretted, that no 
traveller has hitherto analysed the waters. It remains, therefore, 
to be determined, how far the ancient celebrity of this spot . 
might arise from the medicinal efficacy of the springs, which an 
artful priesthood would know how to turn to their own advantage, 
or whether the whole institution rested upon mere quackery and 
superstition. Much of the credit which the place so long en- 
joyed, may have been due to the salubrity of the air, and, as in 
modern watering-places, to the regimen prescribed, and the re- 
creations provided;* the medical knowledge of the priests of 
jEsculapius may be allowed to have had some share in keeping 
up the reputation of the establishment ; and the cure of Imaginary 
disorders, possibly of some real ones, would be effected by means 
of spells and ceremonies intended to work on the fancy. Still, 
the selection of the spot (for its being the birth-place of jEscu- 
lapius is a mere fable) was probably determined by the same 
circumstances that have elsewhere led to the erection of baths, 
hospitals, and religious foundations, and ultimately of towns 

* One precaution adopted will remind the reader of the practice observed in 
our own ^sculapian sanctuaries. " To banish trom these places the terrifying 
image of death, sick persons on the point of expiring, and women about to 
be delivered, are removed from them. ...Sometimes, to save the honour of 
-ffisculapius, the sick persons are directed to go and perform similar ceremo- 
nies at some distant place." — Trav. of Anacharsis,\o\. iv. ch. 53. At Bath, 
Clifton, and some other places, the same care is taken to banish the image of 
mortality, funerals being for the most part conducted by night ; and the 
honour of jS^sculapius is not unfrequently saved by directing the removal pi' 
the patient. In fact, none die ; they merely remove. 



336 MODERN GREECE. 

and cities, in the neighbourhood of mineral waters and holy 
wells.* 

The village of Epidaura (pronounced Pithavra), which stands 
on the ruins of the ancient Epidaurus, is two hours and ten min- 
utes from lero. The badness of the road increases the appa- 
rent distance. According to Livy, that city was only five miles 
from the temple of jEsculapius. On quitting the sacred enclo- 
sure, the " healing fountain" is observed under a tree to the 
right, and a stream is crossed, coming from the same direction. 
Two rivulets find their way from hence to the Argolic Gulf. The 
vale soon becomes a glen, having Mount Arachne on the left, 
and the road is extremely bad. The country is uncultivated 
and overgrown with various shruba, small pines, and wild olives, 
with, here and there, thickets of arbutus andrachne. The pass 
appears to have been strongly fortified. In about an hour, the 
glen opens, and presents a view of the Saronic Gulf, with the 
pointed rocky promontory of Methana, the islands of ^gina! and 
Salamis, and the Attic coast and capital. The plain is watered 
by a rapid rivulet that turns a mill, and there are some signs of 
cultivation. On the left is seen a tumulus, supposed to be that 
of Hyrnetho, wife of Deiphontes, mentioned by Pausanias : near 
it are some Roman ruins. The Epidaurian plain is of small ex- 
tent, but fertile. The wine, however, has lost its ancient repu- 

* Nothing is known of the real history of ^sculapius. His fabulous par- 
entage, as the son of Apollo and Coronis, is a proof that his true origin was 
lost. Homer and Pindar represent him to have been a native or at least an 
inhabitant of Thessaly ; and his two sons, Machaon and Podalirius, led thirty 
sail of (Echalians to the siege of Troy. (See Catalogue of Ships, Iliad, b. ii.) 
If they were really his offspring, we must suppose ^sculapius to have been a 
petty monarch in Thessaly ; but it is perhaps doubtful, whether more is meant 
than that they were eminent in the j^sculapian art, — " healers of disease,"- as 
Cowper renders it. Homer speaks of iEsculapius merely as a man : his deifi- 
cation must, therefore, have been posterior to that age ; and consequently the 
legend, the temple, and the worship are all to be referred to a later date. 
There are some circumstances which would seem to render it probable, that 
the establishment was either of Egyptian origin, or borrowed from the Egyp- 
tian priests. The union of the sacerdotal function with the healing art, in the 
priests of ^sculapius, many of their rites and customs, the alleged descent 
of their patron deity from Apollo or Osiris, and the traces of serpent-worship 
blended with the institution, all favour this idea. (See, for further details and 
authorities, Trav. of Anacharsis, vol. iv. ch. 53.) Over the gate of the tem- 
ple at Epidaurus was this inscription : " Entrance here is permitted only to 
pure souls" — a sentiment more in accordance with the doctrines of Pythago- 
ras, than' with those of the Pantheon. Strabo speaks of similar institutions 
atKosand in the very country of Machaon. The temple at Epidaurus, he 
says, was always filled with sick persons, and teemed with dedicatory tablets 
describing the malady from which the patient had been rescued, as at Kos 
and Trikka. 



MODERN GREECE. • 337 

ration,* and is weak and resinous, though that which is made at 
lero is of good quality. The village consists of a few huts, with 
a good port, formed by a bold peninsula, on which stood the an- 
cient city ; or rather, Mr. Dodwell says, the city stood in the 
plain at the foot of tlie peninsular promontory, divided into two 
points, on which tlie acropolis was situated. Few and imper- 
fect vestiges alone remain. They consist of some fragments of 
wall, of the fourth or last style of Hellenic masonry ; fallen ruins 
of a Doric temple of small proportions, probably that of Juno ; a 
mutilated female statue, clothed and recumbent, apparently part 
of a sepulcliral monument ; some fragments of Roman sculpture 
in white marble ; and, at the foot of the promontory, several 
masses of ruins now covered by the sea. The dense mass of 
bushes enveloping the ruins, would not permit an elaborate in- 
vestigation. 

Epidaurus was anciently a place of strength, and was frequent- 
ly at war with the surrounding states. It sent ten ships against 
the Persians at Salamis, and 800 men to Platsea. Paus^nias 
mentions, besides the temple of Juno and a wooden statue of 
Minerva within the acropolis, a temenos of ^sculapius, a temple 
of Bacchus, a grove sacred to Diana, and a hieron of Venus. 
No certain traces of any of these now exist. The acropolis 
seems to have served as a fortress in modern times, and, in the 
middle ages, must have been a place of some importance, from 
the security of its situation and the commodiousness of its port ; 
but it is now deserted, and Epidaurus is a mere name.f 

The place at which the first Greek congress, or constituent 
assembly, was held, is, in fact, an hour and a half to the N.E. 
of Epidaurus, and is called Piatha [Emada). This town is 
beautifully situated upon a lofty ridge of rocks, two miles from 
the sea : it was formerly protected by an old castle, still remain- 
ing, probably built by the Venetians. The road to it is a path 
along the hills, covered with laurels, myrtles, and pines, always 
in sight of the sea. Numerous coins of the Republic are found 
here ; and the deserted state of Epidaurus may, perhaps, be ac- 



* 'A/iwXoEVT' 'E.TTi&avgov. — Ilias. iv. 561. " And Epidaure, with viny harvests 
crowned." 

t " The gulf is tranquil, retired, and soothingly melancholy. I did not per- 
ceive a single boat, to recal in idea the noise and bustle of the world. The 
shore is at present occupied by a colony of Greeks from Negropont, who re- 
pose in this fruitful land, after having escaped from the Turks, and pursue the 
occupations of agriculture, in which they surpass the rest of the Greeks. In 
fact, the country is covered with kitchen gardens, fields, and luxuriant vine- 
yards. This rising colony is lodged partly in small dwellings, and partly in 
cottages of boughs and leaves." — Pecchio's Journal, p. 130. 
43 



338 MODERN GREECE. 

counted for by the preference which, for some reason or otber,^ 
seems to have been given to this neighbouring port. " Ill-built 
and ill-provided," remarks Mr. Waddington, " Piada still offer- 
ed more resources to the Congress, than any neighbouring tovi^n, 
and was therefore selected to be the birth-place of the Greek 
Constitution."* This Traveller is indignant that Piada should 
have been fraudulently deprived of the honour of giving its name 
to the Greek Code, " misnamed the Law of Epidauras." Not 
only may Piada, however, be considered as the representative of 
the deserted city, but Epidauria is the name of the district ; and 
few persons will be disposed to blame the Greek deputies for 
adopting a name consecrated by historic recollections. Mr. 
Dodwell could not discover, he says, the smallest traces of an- 
tiquity at this place, " though the strength of its position, and the 
advantages of its territory, render it probable that it was the 
site of an ancient city." The plain, which is thickly planted with 
large olive-trees, interspersed with vineyards, is exuberantly pro- 
ductive : it extends to the sea. Near the entrance of this plain, 
coming from the south, this Traveller observed some rock of the 
most beautiful red jasper, shining with the brightest lustre : it is- 
very hard, and not worth the expense of working it. The rocks 
about Piada are covered with the cactus opuntia, which is much 
less common, however, in Greece, than in Calabria and Sicily.f 



FROM EPIDAURUS TO DAMALA (TRCEZEN). 

From Epidaura, Mr. Dodwell proceeded to explore the 
south-eastern extremity of the Argolic peninsula. In a quarter 
of an hour, having crossed the dry bed of the torrent of lero, he 
began to ascend the mountains which separated the Epidaurian 

* Visit to Greece, p. 125- Seepage 106. Thie house in which the legis- 
lative assembly was convened, is " a large rustic chamber, forming a paralle- 
logram, and insulated in the middle of the village, near an ancient tower erect- 
ed in the time of the Venetians, and now inhabited by a poor old woman. 
This rough dwelling," adds Count Pecchio, " reminded me of the cottages of 
Uri, where the Swiss confederated against the tyranny of Austria. The go- 
vernment intends, if fortune should be propitious, to erect a church on the spot, 
in commemoration of the resurrection of Greece." — Visit to Crreece, vol. ii. p. 
129. The road from Piada to Napoli lies over a beautifully diversified coun- 
try, intersected by numerous streams, and is a journey of seven hours. 

f From Piada, Mr. Dodwell proceeded to Jlgios Joannes, (pronounced Mi 
Yanni,) distant four hours and a quarter ; passing at two hours and a half 
from Piada, a village and modern fort called Angelo-Kastro. The next day, 
he traversed for an hour the most rugged roads, winding among barren hills ; 
in three hours and a half from Jlgios Joannes, reached the south-eastern foot of 
the Acro-Corinlhus ; and, iu forty minutes more, entered Corinth. 

f 



MODERN GREECE. 339 

territory from that of Troezen. The road is as bad as possible, 
but the hills are covered widi extensive shrubberies of lentiscus, 
myrde, juniper, and arbutus, intermixed widi small firs and cy- 
])resies. In an hour, he reached the top of the pass, now called 
Trachia (from Tgaxvi) ; but the village of that name occupies 
an ancient site about an hour further. In two hours and a half 
from Epidaurus, after crossing the bed of another torrent, Mr. 
Dodwell arrived at the foot of a wood-clad eminence, crowned 
with dL palaio-kastro, which he had not time to explore. At the 
end of forty minutes further, passing through a plain of arable 
land, intermingled with pastures and traversed by several brooks, 
he halted for the night at a miserable village called Karangia 
(Sir W. Gell writes it Karatcba), and slept in the cottage of a 
miller, whose corn-mill is turned by a picturesque and rapid 
stream. The road now becomes a mere sheep-track. One 
hour and a quarter from Karangia brought our Traveller to the 
base of a pointed rocky acclivity of a massy and insulated form, 
on the summit of which are remains of a fort called Korasa, ap- 
parently of modern construction, though possibly on ancient foun- 
dations. About three quarters of an hour further, crossing se- 
veral streams and a rapid river in a romantic glen, is the large 
and very pretty village of Potamia (^UoTa/xot), so named from 
its lovely river.* Several mills are turned by the stream ; and 
the hill, on the side of which the village is situated, is clothed 
with olive and other trees. 

In thirty-six minutes from Potamia, Mr. Dodwell ascended to 
the summit of another ridge, commanding a view of the plain of 
Troezen, the isles of Calauria, Poros, and Agios Giorgio, and the 
Attic mountains bordering the Saronic Gulf. " The hills over 
which we passed," he says, " were covered with almost every 
shrub that I have seen in Greece ; a circumstance that seems to 
indicate the genial temperature of this part of the coast, which 
is sheltered from the north, and open to all the warm breezes of 
the south and east. After a descent of fourteen minutes, we en- 
tered an arable plain, and having crossed a rivulet, lost every 
trace of road, and wandered a long time among rocks and 
bushes, where our horses frequently fell, and our hands and faces 
were scratched with thorns. After much trouble and fatigue, 
we reached the plain of Troezen, and crossing a stream, proba- 

* In the Itinerary, from Epidaurus to Potamia is 6h. 10 min. A quarter of 
an hour from Karatcha, Sir W. Gell's route ascends a steep mountain, where 
are seen, on the left, " a curious mount and cistern, under which is an arched 
passage with a stone table." We regret that we have no more distiact descrip- 
tion of this place. 



340 MODERN GREECE. 

bly the Chrysorrhoas, arrived at the ruins of that ancient city, 
and lodged in the house of a Greek merchant at the village of 
Damala." 

Inconsiderable as this place now is, consisting of not more 
than forty-five houses, it still retains, In its episcopal dignity, the 
shadow of its ancient greatness. The inhabitants, Mr. Dodwell 
describes as industrious and wealthy, from the commerce carried 
on with the neighbouring coast and the islands of the Archipela- 
go. No Turks were to be seen among them ; and they affected 
a certain degree of independence, which this part of the coast 
appeared to have contracted from its vicinity to the opulent island 
of Hydra. Great part of the plain of Troezen, however, re- 
mains in an uncultivated state, owing to the deficiency of popu- 
lation ; the air in summer is consequently unhealthy, besides 
being impregnated with the sour smell of the galaxidi, or euphor- 
bia charaJcias, which grows in abundance about the rocks, and 
is deemed extremely injurious to the healtli. The badness both 
of the wine and of the water of Trcezen was complained of in an- 
cient times 5 and they are still reckoned, Mr. Dodwell says, 
" heavy and antidiuretic." The fictitious contest between Bac- 
chus and Minerva for the possession of Troezenia, seems never- 
theless to intimate, that the territory was productive of wine as 
well as of oil. Neptune, or in other words, maritime commerce, 
was, however, the chief object of worship. The port, called 
Pogon (the beard) from the narrow strip of land by which it is 
formed, is about a mile and a half from the present village : it is 
now shallow, obstructed by sand, and accessible only to small 
boats. 

The ancient city, which is said to have derived its name from 
Troezen, the son of Pelops, and the brother of Pitheus, its found- 
er, must have been richly embellished as late as the second cen- 
tury, when Pausanias enumerates eight temples (vaoi^, four sanc- 
tuaries (ifp«), a portico, a theatre, and a stadium, besides vari- 
ous sepulchres, monuments, statues, and altars. It was cele- 
brated as the birth-place of Theseus, and as the mother city of 
Halicarnassus, which was founded by Troezenian colonists.* 
Here, during his exile, the Prince of Orators was for some time 
resident ; and we are told by Plutarch, that he used to look to- 
wards the Attic coast with tears in liis eyes. The view of 

* Notwithstanding- its architectural decorations, Troezen was not more pow- 
erful than its neighbour Epidaurus : it had only five vessels at the battle of Sa- 
lamis, and 1000 troops at P'ataea. Plutarch calls it a small town. It is said 
to have borne at different periods, the names of Theseis, Aphrodisias, Saronia, 
Poseidonias, ApoUonias, and Anthanis. See authorities in Dodwell. 



MODERN GREECE. 341 

Athens and of its loftiest mountains is now obstructed by tlie vol- 
canic promontory of Methana ; but the whole of the intervening 
mountainous ti-act, Mv. Dodwell says, has evidently been thrown 
up by the powerful operation of a volcano, which, according to 
Pausanias, took place in the time of Antigonus, the son of De- 
metrius. "Diodorus Siculus relates, that Phaedra, when ena- 
moured of Hippolytus, consecrated a temple to Venus upon the 
acropolis of Athens, from v/hence she could distinguish Troezen, 
the residence of the object of her passion. Were the promon- 
tory removed, Athens might be seen over the northern extremity 
of iEgina. It would appear from Strabo, that the rage of the 
volcano was not exhausted in his time ; for he says, it was some- 
times inaccessible from the intensity of the heat which it occa- 
sioned, and the sulphurous vapours which it diffused ; that at 
night it was visible from afar ; and that the sea was hot for five 
stadia round."* 

The ruins of Troezen are now overgrown with weeds and 
bushes, the largeness of which indicates the fertility of the soil. 
The agnos and the elegant rhododaphne here assume the cha- 
racter of trees, rather than of shrubs. Few places, Mr. Dod- 
well says, promise better to repay for excavation. He found a 
multiplicity of inscribed and architectural fragments, many of 
them Roman. In a dilapidated church, an inverted marble pe- 
destal, which has been made to serve as an altar, bears an in- 
scription relating to the statue which it once supported, raised 
by " the city to the invincible emperor Cassar Marcus Aurelius 
Antoninus, son of the emperor Caesar Septimius Severus Perti- 
nax." In the same church is a small columnar altar ,^ together 
with a triglyph, a frieze, and soffits. In a neighbouring churCh 
called Palaio Episcopi,\ are some frusta of fluted Doric 
cohimns, and other fragments of white marble with sculptured 
foliage. The lower part of the cella of a temple near this charch, 
is finely constructed in regular masonry. In the church of -dytot; 
Zwzrigos (Saint Saviour) are several inscribed marbles ; and in 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 272. Ovid, in some beautiful lines cited by the learned 
Traveller, describes the hoi-rific phenomenon which metamorphosed the plain 
into a hill. (Metam. b. xv. v. 296.) 

" Est prope Pittheam tumulus Trcesena sine ullis 
Arduus arboribus, 'quondam planissima campi 

Area, nunc tumulus. 

tumor ille locopermaiisit, et alti 

Collis habet speciem, longoque induruit cevo." 

t Sir W. Gell calls it the church of Panagia Episcopi, and says, it must be 
the site of the temple of Venus Katascopia. 



S42 MODERN GREECE. 

the same vicinity there is a large heap of architectural fragments. 
Several other churches are scattered about in a state of ruin, 
which v^^ere probably erected on the foundations of temples ; and 
from their number as well as size, (some of them being larger 
than is usual in Greece,) together with other Roman remains, it 
is evident that Damala must have been a place of some conse- 
quence in the middle ages. Near the church of Palaio Episco- 
pi, are remains of a square tower with six layers of blocks, sup- 
porting a modern superstructure, and some masses of Roman 
brick-work. To the west of the ruins is the rocky hill on which 
stood the acropolis. Its summit is now occupied by the imper- 
fect and shattered remains of a fortress of the lower ages ^ there 
are also some ruined churches in a similar style of architecture ; 
but not a single indication of antiquity could be discovered. To- 
wards the base of the hill, the " fount of Hercules" issues from 
the rock, ^he view from the acropolis is very interesting. To 
the west, it overlooks a deep circular valley, enclosed by high 
rocky precipices, partially clothed with foliage. Eastward are 
seen the plain and ruins of Trcezen, with its port, the islands of 
Kalauria and Belbina, the open jEgean, the promontory of Su- 
nium and Hymettus. And to the north, beyond the nrountains 
of Epidauria, is distinguished the coast of Megaris, with Mount 
Gerania, and the white and glittering summit of Parnassus. 

The Abbe Fourraont states, that, in his time, Damala contain- 
ed 400 houses, and that the inhabitants enjoyed good health ; 
but at present the insalubrity of the site is assigned as the reason 
that the bishop no longer resides here. In most of the churches 
scattered among the ruins. Divine service is still performed once 
a year on the festival of the patron saint. 

METHANA. 

The route from Damala to Methana lies in a northerly direc- 
tion, over a rough ridge of low hills. At about fifty minutes 
from the village, near the sea, are ruins of a chapel with an up- 
right Doric column, which is supposed to mark the site of a tem- 
ple of Diana : the place is called LAmne* At the foot of the 

* See Cell's Itin. p. 200. "On the hill towards Methana is the village of 
Masomata. To the left, another called Tou Pasias. Palaio-Urea is a vil- 
lage on a hill near the isthmus." Mr. Dodwell reached Methana from the 
island of Poros, from which he supposes the distance to be between twelve and 
fourteen miles ; but he more than once lost the way. The roads are as bad as 
possible, and their horses were the first that in modern times had been within 
the isthmus. The protopapas of Methana assured them, that they were the 
only people with hats he had ever seen within the peninsula, and they excited 
among the villagers great curiosity. 



MODERN GREECE. 343 

hills is the village of Dara, the chief place in the district. The 
narrow istlimus which unites the promontory with the continent, 
has been fortified with a thick wall of small stones and cement. 
" Both the \illage and the promontory," Mr. Dodwell says, " re- 
tain tlieir ancient names. Cultivation prevails only in a small 
part of the promontory, but particularly in the plain where the 
ancient city stood, and at the base of the hills, which, like Del- 
phi and many of the islands of the Archipelago, consist of strips 
and patches of arable laud, or vineyards, supported by terrace 
walls. The rest of tliis mountainous promontory exhibits a sterile 
desolation, consisting of volcanic rock of dark colour, occasion- 
ally variegated with shrubs and bushes. The outline is grand 
and picturesque. The principal mountain, which was thrown up 
by the volcano, is of a conical form : its apparent height is about 
equal to that of Vesuvius. The hot baths mentioned by Pausa- 
nias are at present unkno^vn. The ancient city of Methana was 
situated in the plain at the foot of its acropolis, and extended to 
the sea ; near which are a few remains of two edifices, one of 
the Doric, tlie other of the Ionic order, composed of white 
marble, and of small proportions. Near these remains is an an- 
cient well of considerable depth, containing brackish and unpota- 
ble water ; and in the same vicinity are two inscriptions. The 
walls of the acropolis are regularly constructed and well pre- 
served, extending round the edge of the rock, which, in some 
places, rises about thirty feet above the plain. Twenty-one 
layers of the wall are still remaining in the most perfect part, 
constructed of a hard mass of small stones, mortar, tiles, and 
earth, coated with stones of a regular masonry. In several parts 
are restorations, apparently modern. One gate only remains, 
which is square on the exterior side, and pointed in the interior. 
Neai' it is a square tower, and higher up the rock is one of a 
circular form, of small dimensions. Two dilapidated churches 
ai'e seen within the acropolis. The promontory has been forti- 
fied in other places ; and we were informed that there are small 
and imperfect remains of three other palaio-kastros within the 
peninsula."* 

Want of time prevented the learned Traveller from complet- 
ing the circuit of the peninsula ; and it is still more to be regret- 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 280 — 3. The isthmus was fortified by the Athenians 
in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian war, and Strabo mentions it as a 
strong place. Pausanias says, that it contained a temple of Isis and statues 
of Hercules and Mercury in the Agora. He mentions also hot baths, thirty 
stadia from the town. Mr. Dodwell procured some brass coins of the city, 
bearing the head of Vulcan, alluding probably to the volcano. 



344 MODERN GREECE. 

ted, that he did not explore the summit of its volcanic cone,— 
an undertaking which he strongly recommends to any future 
traveller who shall possess a competent knowledge of mineralo- 
gy. The little village of Dara, consisting of only a few cottages, 
where Mr. Dodwell passed the night, exhibited an unusual ap- 
pearance of prosperity and cheerfulness, for which his host ac- 
counted by remarking, that it was fortunately so much out of the 
way and so difficult of iiccess that they were never troubled by 
the Turks. "The pastoral inhabitants," he says, "were all 
cheerfully disposed to accommodate us in their cottages, and we 
entered several, all of which were well stocked with the produce 
of their lands. That in which we slept was so full of barrels of 
olives, sacks of caroba-pod, and jars of honey, that it was with 
difficulty we found room for our mattresses. The master of 
the house played on the lyre, while his wife dressed us a dish of 
excellent fish." 

Proceeding northward from Dara, Mr. Dodwell passed in 
thirty-five minutes a village named Phalaridi, situated in a small 
circular plain of rich pasture. In twelve minutes more, he came 
to a narrow isthmus between the sea and a small salt lake.* Be- 
yond this, he passed over two rocky promontories ; in an hour 
and twenty minutes from Dara, entered the plain of Lessa ; and 
in another half-hour, began to ascend the hills by which it is 
bounded. The route now lay along the steep side of a lofty 
mountain,f by a very dangerous road. The calcareous rock is 
broken into lamina, almost as smooth and as slippery as glass, and 
a false step would have precipitated a horse into the deep valley. 
At the end of four hours, they reached the village of Phanari, 
built upon the eastern side of a steep mountain which rises ab- 
ruptly from the Saronic Gulf. Near the village are remains of 
an ancient city on a bare precipitous rock, the edge of which is 
encircled by the ruined walls. Within their circuit appear three 
dilapidated churches with two ancient altars, a sepulchral cippus 
with sculptured foliage, and two mai'ble fragments. There are 
also some modern walls and restorations, probably the construc- 
tion of the middle ages, but none of the gates are remaining, and 
there are no inscriptions. The position is exceedingly strong, 
and well adapted for a fortress. At the foot of the mountain is 
the port, where also there are some remains of ancient walls. 
The name of the village, which signifies lantern, is supposed by 

* This lake is, in fact, the remains of a bay, once the western port of TroB- 
zen, and the isthmus is the bank of sand which now chokes the entrance. 
f The mountain is now called Ortholithi, from opdos and \iOos. 



MODERN GREECE. 345 

Mr. Dodvvell to indicate that this was an ancient telegraphic sta- 
tion.* Two hours from Phanari, he reached the village of Kolaki, 
where he entered the road from Troezen to Epidaurus ; in three 
hours and seven minutes, he passed through the ruins of that 
city ; and in an hour and twenty-eight minutes further, arrived at 
Piada, on his way to Corinth. 

Previously to leaving Trcezen, anxious to visit the spot where 
Demosthenes expired, Mr. Dodwell passed over into the island 
of Poros, the ancient Sphseria, which is separated from the Mo- 
rea by a very narrow channel with a ferry, an hour and a half 
from Damala.f The town of Poros, which derives its name 
fi'om the ferry, is built with a dark-coloured volcanic stone, of 
ivhich the island is composed. Of the volcano by which it was 
created, there exists no historical account : it is not noticed by 
the ancients, and is probably of a date antecedent to their annals. 
It stands on a rocky promontory, united by a low and narrow 
strip of sand, wliich is covered when the sea is high, to the island 
of Kalauria. Poros is destitute both of wood and water ; yet, 
Mr. Dodwell found it inhabited by some Greek traders, who 
were " rich and industrious, almost independent, and extremely 
insolent and inhospitable." Several trading boats and three mer- 
chant vessels were in the port, which has two entrances. 

The island of Kalauria is composed of round and rocky hills, 
covered with a thin, arid soil, producing a small quantity of corn 
and olives. The ruins of the far-famed temple of Neptune are 
found on the most elevated part of the island, an hour from Po- 
ros, and are now called Palatia. The summit which they oc- 
cupy is between 900 and 1000 feet above the level of the sea. 
" Not a single column of this celebrated sanctuary," says Mr. 
Dodwell, " is now standing, nor is the smallest fragment of a 
column to be seen among the ruins. Some masses of the architec- 
ture are remaining, which shew that it was of the Doric order. 
The foundation of the cella remains, and proves that it was not 
of great proportions. Within the cella are the foundations of" 
some pillars, two feet nine inches square ; also, some large 
blocks, which have formed the exterior part of a circular build- 
ing, and are perhaps the remains of the monument of Demos- 

* The learned Traveller refers to various classic authors who mention the 
practice of telegraphic correspondence by means of beacons. The taking of 
Troy was notified to Clytemnestra at Mycenae, by fire signals from Lemnos 
and the intervening mountains of Athos, Messapios, Cithaeron, iEgiplankton, 
and Arachnaion. 

t " The church of Agios Epiphanios is thirty minutes distant from Damala, 
and under it rises a fine stream. Half-way between Damala and Poros is the 
village of Papbia. The country abounds with oranges." — Gell's Itin. p. 126. 
44 



346 MODERN GREECE. 

thenes, which was within the peribolos. A semicircular seat of 
stone remains near the nortii-west end of the temple, on the out- 
side of the cella. When Archias was sent by Antipater to induce 
Demosthenes to quit the sacred asylum of Neptune, he found 
him sitting without the temple ; — perhaps upon that very seat 
which still remains. The orator then entered the temple, and 
swallowed the poison with which he was provided. The stone 
of which this venerated sanctuary is composed, is the dark vol- 
canic rock of the island, which is too coarse to be highly worked. 
Some fragments, however, are seen among the ruins, consisting 
of a fine black marble, and of soipe pieces from the white quar- 
ries of Pentelikon and the grey rocks of Hymettus. Several 
other remains are no doubt concealed by the impenetrable thick- 
ness of the lentiscus which covers part of the ruins." 

This temple is said to have existed before Delos was sacred 
to Latona, or Delphi to Apollo : it must, therefore, be of the 
highest antiquity. It was an asylum of inviolable sanctity, being 
universally respected, and, owing to this circumstance, naturally 
attracted great wealth. The island appeared to Mr. Dodwell 
to be at least between seven and eight miles in circuit, though 
Strabo makes it only thirty stadia.* 

Four hours and a half to the south of Daraala, the road lying 
over " bare and ugly mountains," is the town of Kastri, the rep- 
resentative of the ancient Hermione, which was situated on the 
promontory below the modern village. Neptune, Apollo, Isis 
and Serapis, Venus, Ceres, Bacchus, Diana, Vesta, and Miner- 
va had all temples here ; but their foundations and the walls of 
the city alone remain. There was also a grove consecrated to 
the Graces ; and behind the temple of Ceres, was one of those 
unfathomed caverns which were believed to be mouths 6f the 
infernal regions. f Kastri has two excellent ports : the inhabitants, 
Sir W. Gell says, speak Albanian. Kranidi, to which, in 1823, 
the Greek Senate transferred its sittings in consequence of the 

* Sir W. Gell, in his Itinerary, mentions a large monastery at Calauria, but 
Mr. Dodwell does not appear to have visited it. 

t " Behind this edifice there are three places surrounded with stone balus- 
trades. In one of these, the earth opens and discovers a profound abyss. 
This is one of the mouths of the infernal regions of which I have spoken in 
my journey through Laconia. The inhabitants of the country say, that Pluto, 
wlien he carried off Proserpine, chose to descend by this gulf, because it is the 
shortest passage to his gloomy abode. (Strabo, lib. viii.)" — Travels of Jlna- 
charsis, vol. iv. ch. 53. Sir W. Gell takes no notice of tliis cavern, but says, 
that at Didymo, near a lofty mountain of the same name, three hours from 
Kastri, in a northerly direction, Mr. Hawkins found a curious natural cavity, 
so regular as to appear artificial ; also, an ancient well with a flight of steps 
clown to the water. 



MODERN GREECE. 347 

rupture with the Executive, is an hour and a half to the west- 
ward of Kastri, nearly opposite to the island of Spezzia ; it is 
said to contain 600 houses. Opposite to Kastri is the island and 
city of 



HYDRA. 

" What a spot you have chosen for your country !" said Mr. 
Waddington to admiral Tombazi. " It was Liberty that chose 
the spot, not we," was the patriot's ready reply. On a rock so 
utterly barren as scarcely to present on its whole surface a speck 
of verdure, rises in dazzling whiteness and beauty, this singularly 
interesting city. Seen in a summer's evening by moonlight, it is 
one of the most magnificent scenes imaginable. The white 
houses hanging in the form of an amphitheatre upon a steep 
mountain, then appear like a mass of snow ; and the lights 
sparkling at a distance from the open windows, " shew like stars 
of gold on a silver ground." Hydra was not inhabited by the 
ancients. This little Venice of the iEgean has risen " like an 
exhalation" from the commercial enterprise and love of liberty 
to which the events of the last thirty years have given birth. 
" The harbour, from the abrupt sides and bottom of which the 
town starts up theatrically," Mr. Waddington says, " is neither 
spacious nor secure : it is, in fact, a deep bay situated on the 
western side of the island, and open to the west, having no nearer 
protection from that quarter than the opposite coast of the Morea, 
which is between four and five miles distant. There are, besides, 
two other ports on the same side of the island at a short distance, 
the one on the north, the other on the south of the city, in which 
most of the ships of war are laid up during the winter ; and to 
many of the rest, very secure anchorage is afforded by the neigh- 
bouring and dependent island of Poros. All these three ports 
are, I am assured, superior to that on which the city stands : at 
any rate, they very amply supply its imperfections." Mr. Em- 
erson gives the following description of the appearance of the 
place in 1825. 

" The town, on approaching it from the sea, presents an ex- 
tremely beautiful prospect : its large white houses rise up sud- 
denly from the sea, along the precipitous cliffs which form its 
harbour ; every litde crag displayed the white sails of an im- 
mense number of windmills, and every peak was bristling with a 
battery. In the back-ground, the rugged and barren sumarits 
of the rocks which form the island, with scarcely a speck of cul- 



348 MODERN GREECE. 

tivation or a single tree, are crowned with numerous monasteries'. 
On one is stationed a guard to observe the approach of ships ; 
and his look-out extending to an immense distance, the Hydriots 
have, in general, the earliest intimation of any important naval 
movement. The streets, from the rugged situation of the town, 
are precipitous and uneven, but, to one arriving from the Pelo- 
ponnesus, their cleanliness is their strongest recommendation. 
The quay, for the entire sweep of the harbour, is lined with 
storehouses and shops, which carry on the little external traffic 
that still remains, whilst their number shews the former extent of 
the Hydriot commerce. The houses are all built in the most 
substantial manner, and, with the exception of their flat roofs, on 
European models.* The apartments are large and airy, and 
the halls spacious, and always paved with marble. The walls 
are so thick as almost to supersede the necessity of our sun- 
blinds in the niches of their deep-set windows. But, independ- 
ently of the strength of the habitations, the neatness and extreme 
cleanliness of them are peculiarly remarkable, and speak highly 
for the domestic employments of the Hydriot ladies ; who are 
still not entirely freed from the sedentary restriction so universal 
in the East. The furniture, half Turkish and half European, 
combines the luxury of one with the convenience of the other, 
whilst its solidity and want of ornament shew that it has been 
made for comfort, and not for ostentation. 

" The appearance of the population is much more prepossess- 
ing than that of any other class of the Greeks : the women are 
in general pretty ; but a universal custom of wearing a herchief 
folded over the head and tied under the chin, destroys the fine 
contour of their features, and makes them all appear to have 
round faces. A short silken jacket, neatly ornamented, and a 
large petticoat, containing an immense number of folds and 
breadths, generally of green stuff, bordered with a few gaudy 
stripes, complete their simple costume. The neat slipper, uni- 
versal in the north of Italy, which so delicately shews the turn of 
the ancle and heel, is likewise worn by the Hydriot ladies ; 
whose jetty hair and sparkling eyes, graceful figures and beautiful 
hands, all enhanced by their half European manners, render 

* The taste which appears in the construction of many of the principal 
houses, would not. Mr. Waddington says, disgrace the best parts in any me- 
tropolis, and some of them are furnished with great costliness and elegance. 
He speaks of the streets as narrow and irregular, and, some of them, filthy, 
but " in a much less degree than is usual in the East." " The nobles of Hy- 
dra," says Count Pecchio, " are like the ancient Genoese, who were frugal in 
their living, but splendid in their habitations, to impose upon the people and 
acquire dominion.over them," 



MODERN GREECE. 349 

them, if not the most beautiful, at least the most interesting fe- 
males I have seen in the Levajit. 

" The men are invariably athletic and well-formed ; their dress 
combining all the lightness of an oriental costume with the grace 
of a European one. Their short jackets are covered with neat 
embroidery, and their only personal ornament is the handle of 
tlieir machaira, or stout knife, the sole weapon carried by an 
islander in Hydra. Their pantaloons, which reach merely to the 
knee, are the most singular part of their dress, being nothing 
more than a very broad and shallow sack of dyed cotton, with a 
swing case at the top, and two holes at each corner of the bot- 
tom, so that when drawn on, the superfluous folds fall down in 
a bag behind, whilst ample plaits above add considerably to the 
grace of the figure. 

" The harbour, though constantly crowded, contains only such 
vessels of the fleet as have returned for repairs, or a few Ionian 
and Maltese crafts, that carry on a petty trade in corn. The 
glorious share which this little island has taken in the regenera- 
tion of Greece, has brought it so conspicuously into notice, that 
its liistory is well known. A few fishermen and others, forced 
from the neighbouring continent by the oppression of the Turks, 
raised the first nucleus of a town ; to which afterwards crowded 
numbers of others from Albania and Attica, in similar circum- 
stances. The descendants of these, together with the refugees 
who took shelter here after the unsuccessful expedition of the 
Russians to the Morea, form the present population of the island. 
Their commerce, before the commencement of the French 
Revolution, was a mere trifle ; consisting solely of a little traffic, 
in small coasters, with the neighbouring islands. When, how- 
ever, the French were shut out from the Baltic, the supplying 
them with corn from the Archipelago was chiefly in the hands of 
the Hydriots. It was then that they first commenced building 
large vessels, in which they afterwards carried their commerce 
as far as England and America. In 1816, according to Mons, 
Pouqueville, they possessed 120 vessels, of which forty were of 
400 and 600 tons burthen : the number is now considerably in- 
creased, and all are employed in the glorious task of liberating 
their country. Their services in this struggle are the more hon- 
ourable, as their interference is the pure offspring of patriotism, 
and not the effects of oppression. For many years they had 
purchased from the Forte the liberty of governing themselves. 
No Tui-k was resident on the island, nor ever suffered to ad- 
vance into the town beyond the quay ; their tribute in money- 
was a mere trifle, and their only grievance, an obligation to fur- 



350 MODERN GREECE. 

nish annually 150 sailors for the Ottoman fleet, in which also 
many of themselves wer6 serving through choice, and even a few 
had been advanced to the rank of Capitan Pacha. 

" The trade of Hydra is now totally gone, and, it is proba- 
ble, will never be restored, at least in the island ; as, even if suc- 
cessful in acquiring their freedom, the Hydriots will choose some 
situation more adapted for commerce, and desert the present, to 
which they have only been driven by necessity." 

The population of Hydra was estimated in 1825, at 40,000 
souls. Mr. Waddington represents it as exclusively Albanian. 
" I think it probable," he says, " that notwithstanding the vicin- 
ity of the Morea, not a dozen Greek families are to be found re- 
sident in the island. I should except some Sciote and Aivaliote 
refugees, who are, by the way, the only mendicants in the place. 
Albanian is, of course, the language used in their intercourse 
with each other : the men generally, perhaps universally, can 
converse in Greek. But there are many of the wives and 
daughters of these Hellenes (for they too will sometimes assume 
the title of regeneration), who are entire strangers to the language 
of Greece. 

" The great cause of this rarity of sojourners in a place entirely 
mercantile, is the extreme clannishness of the natives ; and this 
jealousy is extended to all foreigners without exception. It is no 
Albanian suspiciousness, or dislike of what is Greek : I am not 
aware that any such prejudice exists. It is a feeling purely 
Hydriote and operates nearly equally against all the world ; and, 
in fact, if there be any people whom the Hydriotes hate as a 
people, it is their brother Albanians and neighbours, the Spez- 
ziotes and Crenidiotes. 

" Neither could I ever learn, on the other hand, that the 
Greeks entertain any general prejudice against the Albanian 
character. There are, indeed, many mercenaries of that na- 
tion, who, during their service in Greece, have plundered the 
peasantry, in connexion probably with the native soldiers, and on 
whom the entire odium has naturally fallen ; but even this ap- 
plies chiefly to those born on the shores of the Adriatic. Against 
Albanian families or villages established in Greece, I can per- 
ceive no such antipathy. An Albanian commanded the Greek 
fleet during the first year of the war, and was succeeded in his 
command by an Albanian. To the brother of the former ad- 
miral, the Cretans voluntarily confided the government of their 
island ; and the two persons at the head of the present adminis- 
tration in the Morea are Albanians. 

" And yet, there would seem to exist some strong character- 



MODERN GREECE. 351 

istjc distinctions between these two people ; as far, at least, as I 
am able to judge from a very short acquaintance witii the 
Psarians and Hydriotes, who are perhaps the best models of 
either character. Vivacity, levity, vanity, attract and amuse you 
in die former, and are well contrasted by the sedateness, pride, 
almost insolence of the latter. 1 he Greek has more wit, and 
cleverness, and ingenuity ; the Albanian has probably the advan- 
tage in sense and judgment : and, if the one be more brilliant, 
the other is, perhaps, more honest."* 

" There may, too, exist a similar opposition in the nature of 
their crimes. Those of the Greek will be of a lighter and less 
decided character : they will possess more of versatility, 
and chicanery, and roguery ; less of straight-forward down- 
right ^illany. 

" However, whether such differences in character exist or not, 
a strong distinction in manners is immediately observable, and 
this is entirely in favour of the Greek, whose natural and often 
attentive politeness is strongly contrasted with the sulky and re- 
pulsive reserve of the Albanian. 

" I have not seen in any country so uniformly well dressed a 
population, as that of Hydra ; I speak of the men only, for the 
gayety of the women, whatever it may be, is pretty stiictly con- 
fined to their own apartments. There is no where the slightest 
appearance of distress, or even poverty ; nor yet is there any 
commercial bustle, or show of industry, or activity ; much less 
is there any parade or demonstration of war. The people are 
peaceably chatdng in the bazars, and eating v/ith their caviar the 
whitest bread in the world, — a nation of gentlemen, enjoying the 
imited blessings of opulence and tranquillity ! 

" In fact, the people of Hydra have yet suffered none even of 
the ordinary miseries of war. The sailors have been a great 
deal employed, and enormously paid. They have shared the 
plunder of several valuable prizes ; and in the whole succession 
of sanguinary victories which they are imagined to have obtained 
over the Turks since the commencement of the revolution, I do 
conscientiously believe that not twenty Hydriotes have perished. 

* Some of the most daring and successful exploits which have done honour 
to the Revohition, have been achieved by Ipsariots ; but it is a singular fact, 
the Writer remarks, that since the unfortunate destruction of Ipsara by the 
Capitan Pasha, the whole of the Greek fleet is Albanian. Canaris, however, 
is an Tpsariot. Count Pecchio, who saw him at Egina, describes him as a 
young man, about thirty-two, frank, gay, and extremely modest, beloved by his 
countrymen, but envied by the Hydriots. His wife is also an Ipsariot, " of 
great beauty, grave and modest, a Minerva.'' 



352 MODERN GREECE. 

" The government of the island is vested in the hands of six 
primates, vs^ho are sustained in the exercise of their duty by the 
authority of the other merchants ; but their united weight, being 
devoid of all physical support, is insufficient to oppose any very 
general mutiny of the sailors, who may be five or six thousand 
in number, and are prepared on such occasions to proceed to 
any extremity. It was thus, in fact, that Hydra, was first en- 
gaged in the present Revolution. Immediately after the first 
explosion at Patras, Spezzia declared her independence. The 
example of Spezzia was very soon followed by Psara, but the 
primates of Hydra stiU hesitated ; they were much more opulent 
than their neighbours, and therefore risked much more by the 
throw when every thing was staked. The sailors, on the other 
hand, who had been unemployed since the preceding October, 
when Conduriotti and the other merchants called in their vessels, 
were enchanted with the fair prospect of service and profit which 
was opened to them by the insurrection ; they became clamo- 
rous for liberty and religion, and, on the further hesitation of the 
merchants, they proceeded to goad and flog them into indepen- 
dence.* 

" As individuals and as merchants, the leading persons at 
Hydra are extremely and deservedly respected ; and, in my 
short intercourse vsdth them, I have seen no proof of that repul- 
sive inhospitality with which I have sometimes heard them 
charged. I have even been more fortunate in escaping any in- 
sult from the lower classes ; for them, at least, I had been al- 
ways taught to expect insult as a matter of course : the popu- 
lace of Hydra is notoriously lawless and intractable. However, 
Greeks at last, with all their national vanity, often do each other 
great injustice. In this singular land, every man's country is his 
own city, or his own mountain, or his own rock ; and to these, 
his mere patriotism, as separated from his interest, is almost en- 
tirely confined ; and he appears even to detest every thing 
beyond them. Islanders abuse Moraites, and Moraites calum- 
niate Islanders, while many districts in the Morea, and many isles 
in the Egean, have their several subdivisions of animosity. So 
that if these people are severally worse than they represent them- 
selves, we are often consoled to find their neighbours very much 
better than we had been instructed to expect.-j- 

* The whole number of the mob is stated at 5000, and they are said to have 
extorted from the merchants the sum of 150,000 dollars, being 250 piastres 
each. This Writer's account of the transaction may be thought, however, 
not very distinct or perhaps accurate. 

t Thus we find Mr. Dodwell, who does not appear to have visited Hydra, 
speaking with very unusual asperity of the inhabitants of " Poros, Hydra and 



MODERN GREECE. 353 

" Some of the merchants, notwitlistanding the sacrifices which 
tlie Revolution has extorted from them, are still supposed to pos- 
sess very considerable capital, though to what amount, where 
placed, or how at this moment employed, I cannot learn with 
any certainty. Much is probably afloat in Frank bottoms, and 
engaged in the corn trade widi Alexandria or the Black Sea. 

" 1 am sorry to be obliged to believe that the advantages of 
education are as yet extremely undervalued at Hydra. Among 
the higher classes, indeed, some few young men are sent to 
study in Italy ; and many others, whom commercial specula- 
tions may have established for a time in more civilised lands, 
have not lost that opportunity to instruct and inform themselves ; 
but the improvement of the lower orders is miserably neglected ; 
and to this cause, chiefly, we may attribute the selfish and illiberal 
spirit by which tltey are characterised, their disposition to riot 
and disorder, and that unmeaning pride and insolence of demean- 
our, which is so generally the companion of ignorance."* 

That such should be the character of an uneducated mari- 
time population, can excite no reasonable surprise, nor does it af- 
ford any just ground for reproach on either the character or the 
cause of the Greeks. Nothing can be more unfair or more 
absurd than to require from the lower orders, in a country just 
emerging from the barbarising influence of despotism, a de- 
gree of patriotism, enlightened conduct, and polished manners, 
wliich would be looked for in vain among the mariners and mari- 
time traders of our own Island. f The first person in the island, 

some of the commercial islands," as " the worst kind of Greeks," who" think 
themselves independent, because not under the immediate bondage of Turkish 
despotism ;" as having- " all the disgusting impudence of emancipated 
slaves ;" and he declares. " he never found any Turkish insolence or brutality 
so disgusting as the little despicable pride and low impertinence of the con- 
temptible and filthy inhabitants of Poros." This is the language of spleen ; 
and it turns out that these islanders are not Greeks ! Count Pecchip happily 
appHes to the common people of Hydra, Homer's description of the ancient 
Phseacians : 

" A race of rugged mariners are these ; 
Unpolished men, and boisterous as their seas ; 
The native islanders alone their care, 
And hateful he that breathes a foreign air. 
These did the ruler of the deep ordain 
To build proud navies, and command the main ; 
On canvas wings to cut the watery way, 
No bird so light, no thought so swift as they." 

Pope, Odi/s. b. vii. 
* Waddington, pp. 103 — 112. 

t A Spezziote priest, the eparch of the island, speaking to Mr. Emerson of 
the want of principle and unanimity among the leading capitani, observed, that 
^'- poor Greece was still but an infant state ; that it was cruel to expect raanly 
45 



354 MODERN GREECE. 

Lazzari ConduriottI, the brother of the Ex-President,* is a 
man of high and irreproachable character. Such appears to be 
the character, indeed, of all the principal people. His family, 
however, came originally fi'om Condouri, a village near Athens, 
but have long been resilient in Hydra. Miaulis, the Hydriot 
admiral, is thus described by Mr. Emerson, who for some time 
remained on board his vessel, 

" Miaulis is a man from fifty to sixty years old, his figure 
somewhat clumsy, but .with a countenance peculiarly expressive 
of intelligence, humanity, and good-nature. His family have 
been long established at Hydra, and he has himself been accus- 
tomed to the sea from a child. Being intrusted at nineteen by 
his father with the management of a small brig which traded' in 
the Archipelago, his successes in trade were equal to those of 
any of his countrymen, and about fifteen years ago, he was 
amongst the richest of the islanders ; but the unfortunate loss of 
a vessel on the coast of Spain, which, together with her cargo, 
was his own property, and worth about 160,000 piastres, redu- 
ced his circumstances to mediocrity. A few years, however, in 
some degree recruited his fortunes, so far as, at the opening ot 
the war, to enable him to contribute three brigs to the navy of 
Greece. He had at one time been captured, with two other 
Spezziot vessels, by Lord Nelson ; his companions, after a 
strict investigation, still maintaining that their cargo was not 
French property, were condemned ; whilst his frankness in ad- 
mitting the justness of the capture, notwithstanding that circum- 
stance evidently convicted him, induced the British admiral to 
give him his liberty. I never met with any man of more unaf- 
fected and friendly manners. He seems totally above any vaunt- 
ing or affectation, and only anxious to achieve his own grand 
object — the liberation of his country, alike unmoved by the mal- 
ice and envy of his enemies, or the lavish praises of his country- 
men. The bravery of his associates is mingled with a consider- 
able portion of ambition ; but with him, there seems but one 
unbiassed spring, of steady, sterling patriotism. 

" The vessel of Miaulis is a Hyd riot-built brig, of about 300 
tons, carrying fourteen twelve-pound carronades and four long 
eighteens : the crew are about ninety in number, and are almost 

perfection in a child, or matured virtue in an enfranchised slave, and such," he 
added, " are our government and rulers ; and as to these dissensions, there 
were but two men to found Rome, and although they were brothers, one slew 
the other." 

■" George Condiiriotti — " a plain, inactive man, of no talent, but unshaken 
integrity." — Emekson, 



MODERN GREECE. 3 O 

all the remote relatives of his own family. His son Antonio is 
tlie second in command, a young man of pleasing manners and 
distinguished courage ;* and the secretary, Hiccesios Latris, is 
a student of Scio, and a member of one of the most honourable 
Greek families of Smyrna. The cabin is fitted up very neatly, 
and ornamented witli drawings of some of his distinguished bat- 
tles ; it is furnished with a divan, for the accommodation of the 
constant crowd of captains who form his council. Behind it is 
a small chapel, furnished with numerous paintings of the Virgin 
and Saint Nicholas, before which an ornamented lamp is kept 
constantly burning. This, however, is not peculiar to the Mars ; 
as every ship in the fleet has its Virgin and lamp, before which 
the captain and cabin officers pay their morning and evening 
devotions : and at every sunset, a censer of myrrh is borne round 
the deck, the perfume of which is inhaled by every individual of 
the crew, whilst he devoutly crosses himself, and repeats his ves- 
per to the virgin. 

" Miaulis usually takes his stand at the stern : here he remains 
almost without intermission, sleeping at night in a little cabin 
built over the tiller, and sitting on it by day to watch the move- 
ments of the fleet. Nothing can exceed the anxiety and un- 
wearied diligence with which he discharges the duties of an office 
so replete with crosses and thwartings, more from internal an- 
noyande than from solicitude for the movements of the enemy. 
As he sits all day, a la Turque, with his feet doubled under him, 
he has contracted a habit of picking the soft leather of his shoes. 
The affairs for the last month had been most perplexing, and the 
good old admiral's slippers were now in ribands."f 

The island of Spezzia is described by Mr. Emerson as 
" almost a miniature likeness of Hydra ;" less rocky indeed, and 
better cultivated, but similar in its origin and character. The 
town is built on the eastern shore of the island, and contained, in 
1825, about 3000 inhabitants. J Its streets are better than those 
of Hydra, its houses equally good, and the same taste for clean- 
liness and comfort prevails here. From its situation, the place 
is almost incapable of defence, and the few useless batteries 

* " The other members of his family consist of a daughter, now a widow ; 
his eldest son, Demetrius, a merchant and junior primate of Hydra ; and his 
youngest, John, a lad of nineteen or tWenty, commander of one of his father's 
brigs." 

t Picture of Greece, vol. i. pp. 173—5, 190—3. 

X Count Pecchio states the population of the whole island at 10,000 persons. 
Sir William Gell, in his own peculiar style, speaks of Specie as a " thriving 
town of Albanian peasants and pirates, who called themselves Greeks by cour- 
tesy." The island is the ancient Tiparenos. 



356 MODERN GKEECE, 

which lie along the shore had been for the most part dismantled, 
for the sake of placing the guns in their ships of war. The de- 
pendence of the Spezziotes rested on the narrowness of the 
strait which separates their island from the Morea, the dread enr 
tertained hj the Turks of their fire-ships in so narrow a channel, 
and the facilities of obtaining succours or making their escape. 
Spezzia has furnished sixteen ships for the Greek navy, besides 
two fire-ships ; Hydra has furnished forty ; the remainder are 
the remnants of the Ipsariot squadron.* Jealous of the superior 
power and means which have qualified the Hydriotes to take the 
lead in the affairs of Greece, the Spezziotes, Mr. Emerson says, 
have never ceased to manifest their discontent. " With their 
own admiral, their own system of discipline, and even their own 
code of signals, their squadron always sailing in a body and aloof 
from the rest, they seem an appendage, rather than a part of the 
fleet ; and have never failed to disobey any orders, or rather, to 
refuse any requests of the Hydriote commander, which have not 
coincided with their own views of interest, advantage or conven- 
ience. The unfortunate Ipsariots, on the contrary, with no 
longer any native land to fight for, no national superiority to sup- 
port, deprived of kindred and connexion, and, in fact, isolated 
beings, cast upon the world and their own exertions, with no spot 
of earth which they can claim as their own ; only struggling to 
liberate a land where they can again place the remnants of their 
families and fortunes, in some spot which they may yet be able 
to call by the endearing name of home ; aloof from all faction, 

* " Of the vessels of war, about six or seven carry three masts, and are of 
3 or 400 tons burthen ; the remainder are ail brigs and single-masted schoon- 
ers, of from 100 to 250 tons. The greatest number of guns carried by any 
vessel is eighteen, and these are almost always of different calibre, in conse- 
quence of having been brought from different forts, or purchased at various 
times. The weightiest are a few eighteen-pounders in Miaulis's and Sokini's 
brigs ; the remainder, in general, twelve cannonades, or a few long guns of 
the same weight of metal. The entire Greek fleet is as yet the property of in- 
dividuals ; and, though the sailors are paid by the Government, as well as an 
allowance made for the disbursements of the vessels, the owners are in gene- 
ral, subject to a main part of the expenses of those vessels. Conduriotti and 
his brother have furnished ten, Tombazi three, Miaulis three. The rest are, in 
general, fitted out by individuals, or are the joint property of the captain and 
his family. . . .The number of seamen employed in each ship, varies from 100 
to 60, and their pay from 70 to 40 piastres a month. Their activity and alert- 
ness, as sailors, are already well known ; but as, from the narrow circle in 
which they have been accustomed to trade, very few having passed the Straits 
of Gibraltar, they are not what may be called experienced seamen ; and the 
number, even of captains, who have studied navigation, is so small, that they 
have frequently been enumerated to me, and do not, I think, exceed ten or a 
dozen ; the necessity of this branch of education being obviated by their coast 
voyages and short seas. As to the discipline or government of their ships, 
such a thing scarcely exists."— Picture of Greece, vol. i. pp. 176 — 8. 



MODERN GREECE. 357 

and swayed by no contending interests, these men have ever dis- 
played the most undaunted bravery, and have gladly coalesced 
in every measure proposed for the common advantage. They 
have consequently united themselves with the most efficient body, 
the Hydriotes, and have, in common with them, shared the envy 
and ill-offices of their countrymen in Spezzia." 

Upon the whole, among the higher orders both of Hydriotes 
and Spezziotes, Mr. Emerson says, he found much to admire 
and to esteem -, of the lower classes, he was led to form by no 
means so favourable an opinion. 

FROM ARGOS TO CORINTH. 

We must now return to Argos and classic ground, in order to 
penetrate to the Corinthian Isthmus by defiles once guarded by 
the Nemeaean lion, and not less celebrated in the fresh annals of 
Modern Greece, for the destruction of the Ottoman army under 
Mahmoud Pasha ;* when, to adopt the words of Colonel Leake, 
" a Grecian imagination might picture the ghosts of the Atridce 
witnessing, from their still existing sepulchres, a slaughter of the 
barbarian hosts, from which Greece may perhaps date her resur- 
rection from slavery." 

The only outlets from the plain of Argos in the direction of 
Corinth, are the passes of Barbati and Dervenaki, which lead from 
either side of the ancient Mycenae into the valley of Cleonse, and 
thence, through another pass, into the maritime plain which in- 
cludes Sicyon, Corinth, and the Isthmus. f The route taken by 
Dr. Clarke wasbytlie pass of Dervenaki and the Nemean plain. 
" The road from Mycenae to Nemea coincides," he says, " with 
the road to Corinth for a short distance after leaving Carvati 
(Krabata) ; but, upon reaching the mountains which separate the 
two plains of Argos and Nemea, it bears off by a defile across a 
mountain to the west. As we entered this defile, we travelled 
by the side of a rivulet of very clear water, through woods," 
(thickets of oleander, myrtles, and evergreens,) " which were 
once the haunts of the famous Nemeaean lion. The only animals 
we saw were some very fine tortoises. We passed one or two 
huts inhabited by wild-looking fellows, who told us they were 
the guards of the pass. They offered us water, and we gave 

* See page 129. 

t According- to Pausanias, there were two ways of going from Cleonse to 
Argos ; one fit for couriers, and short ; the other by Tretus, a narrow and cir- 
cuitous way, but passable for carriages. 



358 MODERN GREECE. 

them a few paras. Near this place we observed the remains of 
the old road alluded to by Pausanias in his account of this defile : 
the marks of wheels were yet visible, the surface of the stone 
being furrowed into ruts. The mountain is still called Treto by 
the natives : it extends from east to west along the southern side 
of the plain of Nemea. We made diligent inquiry after the cave 
of the Nemesean lion : the guides from Argos knew nothing of 
it, but the people of Nemea afterwards brought us back again to 
visit a hollow rock, hardly deservhig the name of a cave, al- 
though no unlikely place for the den of a lion. It is situate upon 
the top of the mountain just before the descent begins towards 
Nemea, but upon the side towards the gulf of Argos, command- 
ing a view of all the country in that direction. It consists sim- 
ply of an overhanging rock in the midst of thickets, on the left 
side of the road from Nemea to Argos; forming a shed where 
the shepherds sometimes pen their folds.* This is the only cave 
of any description that we could hear of in the neighbourhood, 
and we may consider it as identified with the cave mentioned by 
Pausanias, -from; the circumstance of its position upon a moun- 
tain still bearing the name of the place assigned by him for its 
situation. Its distance also from the ruins' of the temple, being 
about a mile and a half, agrees with that which he has stated, of 
fifteen stadia, f 

. NEMEA. 

" After regaining the road, the descent from this place soon 
conducts the traveller into the plain of Nemea. We passed the 
fountain of Archemorus, once called Langia, and now Licorise. 
Near it we saw the tomb of Opheltes, at present nothing more 
than a heap of stones. Pausanias calls the fountain the Adras- 
tean spring. A superstition connected with it gave rise to all 
the sanctity and celebrity of the surrounding grove. Victors in 

* Bearings, according to Dr Clarke : Peak of Mount Geranion, S.W. by 
W. ; citadel of Argos, S.S.W ; Napoli, S. ; Acro-Corinthus, E.N.E. 

t Apollodorus represeiits the cave as having two entrances. — Between Ne- 
mea and CleonsB, Mr. Dodwell noticed three natural caverns in the rock, a few 
paces from the road ; they are, hoveever, of small dimensions, " and certainly 
not large enough for the Nemean lion." Chandler, however, speaks of other 
caves between Argos and Nemea, which Dr. Clarke seems strangely to have 
overlooked. Soon after passing the deneni, " we turned out of the road to 
the left," he says, '' and Ijy a path impeded with shrubs, ascended a brow of 
the mountain, in which are caves ranging in the rock, the abode of shepherds 
in winter. One was, perhaps, the den of the Nemean lion, which continued to 
be shewn in the second century." 



MODERN GREECE. 359 

Nemeaean games received no otlier reward than a chaplet made 
of the wild parsley that grew upon its margin ; and the herb 
itself, from the circumstance of its locality, was fabled to have 
sprung from the blood of Archemorus, in consequence of whose 
death the spring is said to have received its name.* 

" We then came to the ruins of the temple of the Nemesean 
Jupiter, which forms a striking object as the plain opens. Three 
beautiful columns of the Doric order without bases, two support- 
ing an entablature, and a third at a small distance, sustainmg its 
capital only, are all that remain of this once magnificent edifice ; 
but they stand in the midst of huge blocks of marble, lying in all 
positions, the fragments of other columns, and the sumptuous ma- 
terials of the building, detached from its walls and foundations." 

Mr. Dodwell remarked, that the columns have fallen in such 
regular order, that the temple evidently appears to have been 
destroyed by an earthquake, rather than by the slow process of 
dilapidation. The lower part of the cella remains. The temple 
was hexastyle and peripteral, and is supposed to have had four- 
teen columns on each side.f Of the three which are standing, 
the two supporting their architrave are four feet six inches and a 
half in diameter, and thirty-one feet ten inches- and a half in 
height, exclusive of their capitals. The single column, which 
belongs to the peristyle, is five feet three inches in diameter. Mr. 
Dodwell had not, he says, seen any Doric temple in Greece, the 
columns of which are of so slender proportions: the epistylia are 
thin and meagre, and the capitals are too small for the height of 
the shaft. The edifice is constructed of a soft calcareous stone, 
a conglomerate of sand and petrified shells, and the columns are 

* " At the entrance of the plain of Nemea, we came to a spring- in a rock, 
with some large stones and ancient traces in the vicinity. This was probably 
the fountain Langia. At the time that Adrastos, king of Argos, was leading 
his array through Nemea for the purpose of attacking Tiiebes, lie was over- 
powered by a burning thirst, and meeting Hypsipile, who had the care of 
Opheltes or Archemoros, son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, he made her accom- 
pany him to the fountain of Langia. In order to avoid all delay, she laid the 
child upon the ground, but, on her return, found it had been killed by a ser- 
pent. The fountain thence took the name of Archemoros. Pausapias calls it 
Adrasteia ; and it is singular that he seems ignorant of the origin of this appel- 
lation." — Dodwell, vol. ii. p 208. This Traveller purchased at Corinth, a 
copper coin of that city, on one side of which is the head of Domitian, and on 
the other, a serpent with a child in his mouth, and an armed warrior (Adrastus) 
attacking it. 

t Dr. Clarke was told by the villagers, that there were formerly ninety col- 
umns all standing in this place. This was probably a round assertion, yet it 
seems to indicate that the fall of the greater part must then have been recent. 
Sir W. Gell states the measurements of the temple to have been 65 feet in 
breadth, audits length more than double : the walls of the cella, pronaos, and 
posticus, together, 105 feet 2 inches ; widthj 30 feet 7 inches. 



360 MODERN GREECE. 

coated with a fine stucco : they are now nearly covered with a 
thin lichen, produced by the dampness of the situation. Some 
fragments of marbles may possibly yet be concealed among the 
ruins ; but even in the time of Pausanias, the roof had fallen, and 
not a statue was left.* 

"Near tlje temple," continues Mr. Dodwell, "is a ruined 
church, with several blocks of stone : some fluted Doric frusta 
and a capital of small proportions, serve as an altar. This was 
perhaps the sepulchre of Opheltes, which, according to Pausa- 
nias, was surrounded with a wall. I searched in vain for parsley, 
which is said to have sprung from the blood of Opheltes ; and ob- 
served no remains of the tumulus (;^w/ia yvs) of Lycurgus, king 
of Nemea, nor any traces of the theatre or stadium. f Nemea 
was indeed a village, rather than a town ; (Pausanias calls it 
Xwgiov ;) it was probably inhabited chiefly by the priests and at- 
tendants on the god, and those who prepared the quinqennial 
games. J 

" The plain exhibits a very even surface ; it is surrounded with 
barren hills of a dark and melancholy hue, the highest of which, 
at the north-eastern extremity, has a flat summit, and is probably 
that which was called Apesas by the ancients. This is visible 
from the heights above Corinth and from the acropolis of Argos. 
According to Pausanias, Perseus first sacrificed to Jupiter Ape- 
santios on this mountain. 

" Nemea is more characterised by gloom than most of the 
places I have seen. The splendour of religious pomp and the 
busy animation of gymnastic and equestrian exercises, have been 
succeeded by the dreary vacancy of a death-like solitude. We 
saw no living creatures but a ploughman and his oxen, in a spot 
which was once exhilarated by the gayety of thousands, and 
which resounded with the shouts of a crowded population. The 
forest which supplied Hercules with his club, could not at present 

* Yet the temple, Dr. Clarke suggests, is not, perhaps, of the high antiquity 
that has been assigned to it, but " may have been erected by Hadrian, when 
that emperor restored to the Nemeaean and to the Isthmian Games their original 
splendour," — possibly, on more ancient foundations. 

t Dr. Clarke says : " Near the remains of the temple, and upon the south 
side of it, we saw a small chapel containing some Doric fragments standing 
upon an ancient tumulus, perhaps the monument of Lycurgus, father of Ophel- 
tes." Sir W. Gell also speaks of this tumulus, but supposes the Doric remains 
to be those of the Propylcea of the temple. " There are indications of the Ne- 
mean theatre," he says, " at the foot of a hill not far distant ; and probably 
vestiges of the stadium or hippodrome of the Nemean Games might be disco- 
vered by an attentive search." — Itin.p. 159 Was not the tomb of Opheltes 
and his father the same .'' 

t The Olympic games were celebrated every fifth year, but the Nemean 
every third year. The latter continued long after the former were abolished. 



MODERN GREECE. 301 

furnish a common walking-stick. There is not a single tree in 
the whole plain, and only a lew bushes about the temple. "^* 

The Nemean were funereal games ;-j- and the gloomy aspect 
of the spot would seem to have comported with the original cha- 
racter of the institution. The presidents were clothed m black 
garments, and the parsley with which the visiters were crowned, 
was the herb, Plutai'ch tells us, with which the ancient Greeks 
were accustomed to adorn the sepulchres of their dead. It still 
retains, among the moderns, its melancholy use and emblematic 
character. " To want parsley" {daiddat deXivov"), was an ex- 
pression applied to a person in the last extremity ; and the gift 
of parsley, in the hieroglyphic language of flowers, implies a 
wish of tlie person's death to whom it is presented. In some 
parts of England, the rosemary, with its ' sweet decaying smell,' 
has the same funereal character, being put in the coffins of the 
dead, as, in Greece, the parsley is strewed on the grave, or 
planted round it. 

A poor village, consisting of three or four huts, somewhat 
further in the plain, to the N.E. of the temple, now occupies. 
Dr. Clarke says, the situation of the ancient village of Nemea : 
it beai's the name of Colonna, " probably bestowed upon it in 
consequence of these ruins." J 

The ancient road to Corinth did not pass through Nemea, but 
ran direct to Cleonae,§ where the Nemean Games were some- 
times celebrated. The intermediate distance, according to Sir 
W. Gell, is an hour and a quarter, although, according to Pau- 
sanias, it was only fifteen stadia, or not two miles. || The road 

* If the club of Hercules was of olive, as Pausanias states, it is probable that 
timber trees were always scarce in this plain. The temple, was, however, sur- 
rounded with a grove of cypress-trees, which has entirely disappeared. 

t There is reason to believe that all the games owed their institution to a 
similar origin, though, as political institutions, they became subsequently mo- 
dified. The Olympic Games are said to have been originally celebrated in ho- 
nour of deceased heroes. " Games, with prizes for the coiiqueiors, were the 
usual compliment, and made, up the greatest part of the ceremony at the fune- 
ral of every person of note and quality. . . .Sometimes, an anniversary solem- 
nization of games was enacted in honour of the deceased. Such were those 
instituted by a decree of the Syracusians as a perpetual memorial of the god- 
like virtues of Timoleon, their deliverer and legislator." — See Dissert, on the 
Olympic Games prefixed to West's Pindar. The Nemean Games were sacred 
to Hercules, as tlie Olympic were to Jupiter, the Isthmian to Neptune, and the 
Pythian to Apollo. 

t Sir W. Gell says, the village nearest the ruins is called Kutchukmadi. 

§ Cleonae was 120 stadia, or nearly fifteen miles from Corinth. The distance 
must be considerably increased by going through Nemea, if we may depend 
upon Sir W. Gell's calculation by time. Adding together the distances 
from Corinth to Cleonae, from Cleonse to Nemea, from Nemea to Krabata, and 
from K -abata to Argos, we have eight hours ; equal to about twenty-five miles. 

II This discrepancy is so considerable as almost to justify suspicion whether 
the supposed temple of Jupiter be really that of Nemea. 

46 



362 MODERN GREECE. 

is very bad. Chandler, who took this route, says : "We passed by 
the fountain at Nemea to regain the direct road from Argos to 
Corinth re-ascending Tretus. We then travelled over a moun- 
tainous road among low shrubs ; the hills with their tops washed 
bare, some shining, and with channels worn in their sides ; the 
way crossed by very deep Vv^ater-courses and shallow streams. 
We came to a small plain, in which are some vestiges of Cleonae, 
a city once overspreading a knoll or rising rock^ and handsomely 
walled about. It is mentioned by Pausanias as a place not large, 
with a temple of Minerva." Diodorus Siculus mentions also a 
temple of Hercules in this vicinity, the ruins of which Mr. Cock- 
erel! found behind a khan on the road from Cleonae to Argos, 
with part of a statue, supposed to be of Hercules.* Mr. Dod- 
well, who reached Cleonae from the Isthmus, thus describes the 
vestiges to which Chandler so obscurely alludes. 

" In two hours and .thirty-three minutes from Corinth, we ar- 
rived at the ruins of Kleonai, at present named Kourtese, situ- 
ated upon a circular and insulated hiU, which seems to have been 
completely covered with buildings. On the side of the hill are 
six ancient terrace-walls of the third style of masonry, rising one 
above the other, on which the houses and streets were situated. 
Strabo, as well as Homer, calls it a well-built town, and says, 
that it extended round a hill, and was eighty stadia from Corinth, 
which agrees nearly with two hours and a half that it took us to 
reach it from that place. The Acrocorinthus, which had been 
concealed from us by intervening hills, became visible from 
hence in the direction of N. 65 E. ; and Strabo says, he saw it 
from the Acrocorinthus. Both the Geographer and Pausanias call 
it a small town. The walls of this city appear to owe their di- 
lapidation more to violence than to time, as, where they have 
been suffered to remain, their preservation is perfect. They 
were probably demolished by the destructive fury of the tyrants 
of the world, at the period of the taking of Corinth. According 
to the testimony of Pausanias, the detested tyranny of the Ro- 
mans destroyed, at that unhappy epoch, all the fortified places in 
Greece. The destruction of many most interesting remains of 
Grecian fortification is, no doubt, to be attributed to the over- 
bearing policy of that people. 

" Not far from the ruins of Kleonai is a ridge of hills, one of 
which is called Agion Oros, the holy mountain, on which are the 
remains of a small town or castle, situated above the extensive 

* Gell's Itia. p. 157. 



MODERN GREECE. 3Go 

village of ^gios Basili, probably Tenea, which was sixty stadia 
from Corinth, on the way to Mycenze."* 

On leaving Cleonie, the road is crossed by two small torrents, 
which join a large stream on the right, flowing towards Corinth, 
In the plain are several villages. On the right is that of Omar 
Tschaoiisch, with a few cypresses about it and some cultivation. 
Witliin a short distance, the traveller crosses five other rivulets 
running towards the Corinthian Gulf.f The road then lies over 
some gentle eminences of a light-coloured argillaceous soil,J 
which have been rent by earthquakes, and furrowed by winter 
torrents. Several deep ravines are crossed by bridges. On 
coming in view of the Gulf, the plain opens on the left, covered 
with vineyards and olive-groves. The fertility of this plain was 
proverbial, and it was noted for its olives. The trees, however, 
Mr. Dodwell says, being tliickly planted, are not so large and 
thriving as those of Athens, which stand further apart, and have 
more room for their roots, as well as a freer circulation of air 
for their branches. The road is extremely slippery after rain. 
A steep path descends into the plain, and at the foot of the hills 
are two tumuli, some ancient stone-quarries, and traces of build- 
ings. Furtlier on, the traveller crosses two streams, and passes 
by a fountain with remains of Roman brick-work ; he then 
passes over a deep ravine, and in thirty-seven minutes after en- 
tering the plain, arrives at Corinth. 

CORINTH. 

There is scarcely any one of the seats of ancient magnificence 
and luxury that calls up more vivid and powerful associations, 
than are awakened by the name of this once opulent and power- 
ful city. Corinth, " the prow and stern of Greece,"§ the em- 
porium of its commerce, the key and bulwark of the Pelopon- 
nesus, was proverbial for its wealth as early as the time of Homer. 
Its situation was so advantageous for the inexperienced naviga- 
tion of early times, that it became of necessity the centre of 
trade. II The circumnavigation of the peninsula was tedious and 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 206. 

+ Between Omar Tschaousch and Rakani, the same river is crossed three 
times. 

\ Dr. Clarke says, " the rocks appeared to consist of a whitish chalky lime- 
stone." 

§ TTpapa Kai 7rpu//va tijj'EXXo^os" (Dion Chrysostom in Dodwell). The Acrn- 
corinthus was one of the horns on which Philip was advised to lay hold in 
order to secure the heifer, the Peloponnesus : Ithome v-as tbs other. 

11 The first naval battle on record was fought between Corinrh and its colo- 
ny Corcyra, about 657 B.C. " Syracuse, the ornament of Sicily, Corcyra, 



364 MODERN GREECE. 

uncertain to a proverb ;* while at the Isthmus, not only their 
cargoes, but, if requisite, the smaller vessels might be transported 
from sea to sea. By its port of Cenchreae, it received the rich 
merchandise of Asia, and by that of Lechaeum, it maintained in- 
tercourse with Italy and Sicily. The Isthmian Games, by the 
concourse of people which they attracted at their celebration, con- 
tributed not a httle to its immense opulence ; and the prodigality 
of its merchants rendered the place so expensive, that it became 
a saying, "It is not for every one to go to Corinth. "f Prior to 
its barbarous destruction by the Romans, it must have been an 
extremely magnificent city. Pausanias mentions in and near 
the city, a theatre, an odeum, a stadium, and sixteen temples. 
That of Venus possessed above a thousand female slaves. 

The original name of Corinth was Ephyra : who the Corin- 
thus was, from whom the city is stated to have taken its present 
name, is matter of uncertainty and fable. J The Grecian city 
was destroyed by Roman barbarians. " A dispute, in which the 
Roman senate interposed, produced a war equally fatal to Gre- 
cian liberty and to Corinth. The general of the Achseans was 
defeated, and fleeing into Arcadia, abandoned this city. Lucius 
Mummius, who commanded the Roman army, apprehensive of 
some stratagem, did not enter until the third day, though the 
gates stood open. The Corinthians were put to the sword, or 
sold as captives, and the city was pillaged and subverted. The 

some time sovereign of the seas, Ambracia in Epirus, and several other cities 
more or less flourishing, owe their origin to Corinth." — Trav. of Anachards, 
vol. iii. c. 37. Thucydides states, that the Corinthian ship-builders first pro- 
duced galleys with three benches of oars. 

•^ Cape Malea was, in those days, a sort of Cape of Good Hope. " Before 
the mariner doubles Cape Malea," it was said, " he should forget all the holds 
dearest in the world." 

t The women of Corinth are distinguished by their beauty, the men by their 
love of gain and pleasure. They ruin their health by convivial debauches, and 

love with them is only licentious passion. Venus is their principal deity 

The Corinthians, who performed such illustrious acts of valour in the Persian 
war, becoming enbrvated by pleasure, sunk under the yoke of the Argives ; 
were obliged alternately to solicit the protection of the Lacedaemonians, the 
Athenians, and the Thebans ; and are at length reduced to be only the wealth- 
iest, the most effeminate, and the weakest state in Greece." — Trav. of Jina- 
chards,\o\.\\\. c. 37. In this description of the manners of Corinth,"we re- 
cognise the usual features of a maritime and commercial capital. Cadiz has 
been called the modern Paphos : at one time the emporium of the Indies, com- 
manding the commerce of both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, eminent 
alike for its wealth and its profligacy, the charms of its women, the opulence 
of its merchants, and the gaiety of its inhabitants, it might, with singular ac- 
curacy in the comparison, have been more appropriately styled the modern 
Corinth. — See Mod. Trav., Spain, vol. i. p. 355. 

X " Corinth," says Wheeler, " iiath yet near upon preserved its old name; 
for they stil) call it Corintho, or, for shortness, Coritho ; seldom, now-a-days, 
pronotincing the S at the end of their words." 



MODERN GREECE. 3G5 

\ 

historian Polybiiis, who was present, laments among other arti- 
cles, the unworthy treatment of the offerings and works of art ; 
relating, that he saw exquisite and famous pictures thrown ne- 
glectfully on the ground, and the soldiers playing on them with 
dice. The precious spoil was among the prime ornaments of 
Rome and of the places in which it was dispersed. The town 
lay desolate until Julius Ccesar settled there a Roman colony, 
when, in moving the rubbish and digging, many vases were 
found, of brass or earth finely embossed. The price given for 
these curiosities excited industry in the new inhabitants 5 they* 
left no burying-place unexamined ; and Rome, it is said, was 
filled with the furniture of the sepulchres of Corinth."* 

When " the republics of Thebes and Argos, of Sparta and 
Athens, were lost in a single province of the Roman empire,"f 
which, from the superior influence of the Achaean league, was 
usually denominated the province of Achaia, Corinth became the 
capital and the residence of the pro-consul. J Hither St. Paul 
came from Athens, A.D. 52, and continued a year and six 
months in the city, which appears to have been the furthest point 
southward of his travels in Greece. Having " shorn his head 
in Cenchrea," in consequence of a vow, instead of proceeding 
to the Peloponnesus, he sailed thence to Ephesus on his way to 
Syria. His two epistles to the Christian Church at Corinth, 
(written from Ephesus and Philippi, A.D. 56, 57,) indirectly 
prove the licentious state of public morals in the colonial capital. 

" New Corinth had flourished 217 years when it was visited 
by Pausanias. It had then a few antiquities, many temples and 
statues, especially about the agora or market-place, and several 
baths. The Emperor Hadrian introduced water from a famous 
spring at Stymphalus in Arcadia ; and it had various founiains, 
alike copious and ornamental. The stream of one issued from 
a dolphin, on which was a brazen Neptune ; of another, from 
the hoof of Pegasus, on whom Bellerophon was mounted. On 
the right hand, coming along the road leading from the- market- 
place towards Sycion, were the odeum and the theatre, by 
which was a temple of Minerva. The old gymnasium was at a 
distance. Going from the market-place toward Lechseum, was 
a gate, on which were placed Phaeton and the Sun in gilded 
chariots. Pirene entered a fountain of white marble, from which 
the current passed in an open channel. They supposed the 
metal called Corinthian brass to have been immersed, while red 
hot, in this water. On the way up to the Acrocorinthus were 

* Chandler, vol. ii. ch. 57. t Gibbon. t Acts xviii. 12. 



366 / MODERN GREECE. 

temples, statues, and altars,* and the gate leading to Tenea ; a 
village with a temple of Apollo, sixty stadia, or seven miles and 
a half distant, on the road to Mycen^. At Lechseum was a tem- 
ple and a brazen image of Neptune. At Cenchrea were tem- 
ples ; and by the way from the city, a grove of cypress-trees, 
sepulchres, and monuments. Opposite was the ' Bath of Helen,' 
water tepid and salt, flowing plentifully from a rock into the 
sea. Mummius had ruined the theatre of Corinth ; and the 
munificence of the great Athenian, Atticus Herodes, was dis- 
played in an edifice with a roof, inferior to few of the most cel- 
ebrated structures in Greece. 

" The Roman colony was reserved to suffer the same calami- 
ty as the Greek city, and from a conqueror more terrible than 
Mummius, Alaric, the savage destroyer of Athens and universal 
Greece. In a country harassed with frequent wars, as the Pel- 
oponnesus has since been, the Acrocorinthus was a post of too 
much consequence to be neglected. It was besieged and taken 
in 1459 by Mahomet II. ; the despots or lords of the Morea, 
brothers of the ^ Greek emperor who was killed in defending 
Constantinople, refusing payment of the arrears of the tribute 
which had been imposed by Sultan Moral in 1447. The coun- 
try became subject to the Turks, except such maritime places 
as were in the possession of the Venetians, and many of the 
principal inhabitants v^eve carried away to Constantinople. Cor- 
inth, with the Morea, was yielded to the republic at the con- 
clusion of the war in 1698, and again by it to the Turks in 171 5. "f 

" The present town of Corinth," says Mr. Dodwell, describ- 
ing its appearance in 1805, " though very thinly peopled, is of 
considerable extent. The houses are placed wide apart, and 
much space is occupied with gardens. There are some fine foun- 
tains in the town, one of which is extremely curious, on account 
of the fantastic ornaments with v/hich it has been enriched by 
the singular combinations of Turkish taste. Corinth is governed 
by a Bey, whose command extends over 163 villages. J The 
chief produce of the territory is corn, cotton, tobacco, and oil, 
and a better wine than that of Athens, which the Turks quaff' 
freely in spite of their prophet, in order to counteract the bad 



* These have all disappeared. All that Dr. Clarke observed in going up, 
were the remains of an ancient paved way near the gate of the fortress, and 
near it, an Ionic capital. 

t Chandler's Travels, voL ii. ch. 57. 

X " The caddi," Wheeler says, " is counted to have at least 300 villages un- 
der his jurisdiction, but these are little better than so many farms up and down 
the plain between them and Sicyon." 



MODERN GREECE. 367 

effects of the air, which in summer is almost pestilential. A 
tliick dew falls during the night ; and early in the morning, every- 
thing is as wet as if it had been drenched with rain. The 
plague, which raged here a few months before our amval, de- 
stroyed about 800 persons. The Bey resides in a large house at the 
north-eastern extremity of the town. His garden is ornamented 
with decapitated cypress-trees, which circumstance contradicts 
the authority of Theophrastus and Pliny, who assert that the cy- 
press dies if its top is cut off. Corinth is the first bishopric of 
the Morea ; the bishop's title is HgMzodgovog zrjg Mwgeas- 

" The Acrocorinthos, or acropolis of Corinth, is one of the 
finest objects in Greece, and, if properly garrisoned, would be a 
place of great strength and importance. It abounds with excel- 
lent water, is in most parts precipitous, and there is only one spot 
from which it can be annoyed with artillery. This is a pointed 
rock, at a few hundred yards to the southwest of it, from which 
it was battered by Mohamed 11. Before the introduction of artil- 
lery, it was deemed ali^^^st impregnable, and had never been taken 
except by treachery or surprise.* It shoots up majestically 
from the plain to a considerable height, and forms a conspicuous 
object at a great distance : it is clearly seen from Athens, from 
which it is not less than forty-four miles in a direct line. Strabo 
affirms, that it is three stadia and a half in perpendicular height, 
but that the ascent to the top is thirty stadia by the road, the cir- 
cuitous inflections of which render this no extravagant computa- 
tion. The Acrocorinthos is at present regarded as the strongest 
fortification in Greece, next to that of Nauplia in Argolis. It 
contains withki its walls, a town, and three mosques. Athenaeus 
commends the water of the fountain Peirene in the Acrocorinthos 
as the most salubrious in Greece. It was at this fount that Pe- 
gasus was drinking when taken by Bellerophon. After gushing 
from the rock, it branches into several small rills, which find 
their way imperceptibly to the lower city which, for that reason, 
anciently merited the epithet of avvSgov adzv, the well-watered 
city. I was assured that there were scarcely any vestiges of 
antiquity within the Acrocorinthos, and the walls appear to be of 
modern construction, but the jealous vigilance of the Turks would 
not permit me to approach sufficiently near to ascertain if any 
part of them is ancient."f 

* Owing to its natural strength, a small number of men were deemed suffi- 
cient to garrison it ; and in the time of Aratus, (according to Plutarch) it wa« 
defended by 400 soldiers, 50 dogs, and as many keepers. It was surrounded 
with a wall by Cleomenes. 

t Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 187. Lusieri, who subsequently obtained access to the 
fortress, observed only the shaft of a small pillar. 



368 MODERN GREECE. 

Dr. Clarke could only obtain permission to ascend to the sum-' 
mit of the rock, as far as the outside of the gates of the fortress ; 
but Sir George Wheeler, who travelled in 1675-6, by virtue of 
his " consul's patent" from the Grand Seignior, backed by a 
couple of dollars to the aga of the castle, was allowed to go 
where he pleased. The following is his account of the place. 

" We went thither on horseback, it being a good hour's work 
to get up to it from the town ; for it is a mile henCe to the foot 
of the hill ; and thence a very steep way up, with many vsand- 
ings and turnings, before one arrives at the first gate. The 
Acrocorinthos is situated upon a very high rock, having a great 
precipice round it, but not so deep on the south-west side where 
the entrance is ; for thence runs out a ridge of the hill two or 
three miles southwards in the Morea ; and thence it was that 
Mahomet II. made his assault when he took it from the Venetians 
after fourteen month's siege, that part of the castle being the 
only place where it is pregnable. The first gate we came to is 
plated vdth iron, where we were made to alight to go in on foot. 
This side of the rock is well covered with houses ; for not only 
those who still reside here, as well Turks as Christians, have 
their houses and families there, but, for the most part, even those 
who dwell below in the town, have houses also in the castle, 
where they keep all their best goods safe from the frequent and 
very uncourteous visits of the corsairs, and hither, upon the least 
alarm, they come flocking with all they can bring with them ; 
the houses below being either houses of pleasure belonging to 
Turks of quality, or such as have been built both by Turks and 
Christians for the greater convenicQce of trade and business. 
There are abundance of cisterns for water hewn into the rock, 
and some springs, especially one which is toward the southern 
side of the hill called in times past Pyrene. 

" There are three or four mosques in the castle, and five or 
six small churches ; but most of these are ruined. The catko- 
lica is kept in repair, but is a very mean place for such an eccle- 
siastical dignity. In it we saw two old manuscripts of the Scrip- 
tures, divided according to the usual readings of the Greek 
Church, and two liturgies of St. Basil, which we took to be very 
ancient, because written upon long scrolls of parchment upon 
rollers of wood. But, as to the two epistles written to this 
church by St. Paul, we had but little account, and as litde of 
their zeal to his doctrine as anciently. Under the walls of the 
castle, towards the town, is a little chapel hewn out of the rock, 
and dedicated to St. Paul. . . .The truth is, the Christians here, 
for want of good instruction and able and faithful pastors to teach 



MODERN GREECE. 369 

them, run daily into apostacy, and renounce their religion for the 
Turkish superstition upon every small calamity and discontent 
that happens to them ; and diis not only among the common 
people, but even the priests also. 

" From the first gate, we mounted yet higher, and came to a 
second, which is well and strongly built, with two towers on each 
side of it. This wall, 1 guess to be about two miles in compass, 
having some houses inhabited, but many more ruined within 
them. The two principal points of the rock are inclosed in 
tliem also. On the one, situated S.W. of the other, is a tower 
'built, and on the other, being the highest point, a little mosque.* 
To the top of this last we mounted, and had one of the most 
agreeable prospects in the VA'^orld. On the right hand of us, the 
Saronic Gulf, with all its little islands strewed up and down it, to 
Cape Colonni or the Promontory Sunium. Beyond that, the 
islands of the Archipelago seemed to close up the mouth of tlie 
Gulf. On the left hand of us, we had the Gulf of Lepanto or 
Corinth, as far as beyond Sicyon, bounded northward with all 
those famous mountains of old times, with the Isthmus, even to 
Athens, lying in a row, and presenting themselves orderly to our 
view.f The plain of Corinth towards Sicyon, or Basilico, is 
well watered by two rivulets, well tilled, well planted with olive- 
yards and vineyards, and, having many little villages scattered up 
and down in it, is none of the least of the ornaments of this pros- 
pect. The town also that lieth north of the castle, in little knots 
of houses, surrounded with orchards and gardens of oranges, 
lemons, citrons, and cypi-ess-trees, and mixed with corn-fields 
between, is a sight not less delightful. So that it is hard to judge 
whether this plain is more beautiful to the beholders, or profita- 
ble to the inhabitants 



* Probably this mosque occupies the site of an ancient fane, — perhaps the 
temple of Venus. 

t The following- bearings are given by Wheeler. The Sicyonian promontory, 
where the Gulf of Lepanto turns, N.W. by N. The foot of <he promontory 
Cyrrha (now called Tramachi), N.N.W. The fuomontory Anticyrrha (now 
Aspropiti) with the bay, and beyond it, the highest point of Parnassus (Helio- 
cori), N. The foot of Mount Gerania, dividing the Gulf into the two bays of 
Corinth and Livadostro, N.N.E. Above this. Mount Helicon, " with a high 
bunch on its back like a camel, (now called Zagara Bouiii,) in the same point." 
The highest point of Mount Gerania (Palaio Bouiii), between Megara and 
Corinth, N.E. by N. The Islhmes itself runs E.N.E. towards the highest ridge of 
Mount Cithaeron, now called Elatea. Beyond Ciihseron eastward, follow 
Mounts P-arnes and Hymettus, and between them appear.s the temple of Mi- 
nerva upon the acropolis of Athens. By them the island Coulom-i, E. (or E. 
by S ) iEgina, S. E. Strabo has accurately characterised the prominent fea- 
tures of this view, which comprehends six of the most celfbi ated states of an- 
cient Greece ; Achaia, Locris. Phocis, Boeotia, Attica^and Argolis, 
47 



370 MODERN GREECE, 

" Under the western top of the hill, is a place walled io, 
which they say, was the place where the Jews lived when Co- 
rinth was under the Venetians. They make four distinct quar- 
ters of this castle, each governed by a different Haga. But 
their forces consist now only of the inhabitants, Turks and Chris- 
tians : no Jews wefe now amongst them. The numbers of 
Turks and Christians seem to be equal, and are esteemed not 
tS exceed 1500 in number, both in the town and castle, but 
there are many more dispersed up and down in the villages in 
the plain." 

Both Dr. Clarke and Mr. Dodwell speak in glowing language 
of the view obtained from this ridge. The former, describing 
the prospect seen from the outer gate, says : " As from the Parthe- 
non at Athens we had seen the citadel of Corinth, so now we 
had a commanding view across the Saronic Gulf, of Salamis and 
the Athenian acropolis. Looking down upon the Isthmus, the 
shadow of the Acrocorinthus, of a conical shape, extended ex- 
actly half across its length, the point of the cone being central 
between the two seas. Towards the N., we saw Parnassus 
covered with snow, and Helicon, and Cithseron. Nearer to the 
eye appeared the mountain Gerania, between Megara and 'Co- 
rinth. But the prospect which we surveyed was by no means 
so extensive as that seen by Wheeler, because we were denied 
admission to the fortress, which concealed a part of the view 
towards the right." 

The point from which Mr. Dodwell surveyed this magnificent 
prospect, was from the rock, a few hundred yards S. W. of the" 
Acrocorinthus, from which it was battered by Mohamed 11. ; and 
as this view includes the citadel itself, it has the advantage over 
the other. The Athenian acropolis appears like a white speck in 
the distance. In point both of grandeur and interest, the pano- 
rama forms one of the most captivating views in Greece. 

Since the commencement of the Revolutionary war, the Acro- 
corinthus has repeatedly been lost and regained by the contend- 
ing parties ; and this important fortress, which might be made 
the bulwark of the Peninsula, has seemed, through the weakness 
and improvidence of the Greeks, to have lost all its former con- 
sideration and importance. Well provisioned, a small garrison 
might here have defied the utmost efforts of the Ottoman inva- 
ders. Greece has no Mohamed II. to fear in Sultan Mahmoud. 
The modern town has shared the fate of Argos and Tripolitza, 
having been alternately devastated by Turk, Albanian, and Mo- 
reote ; few remains of antiquity, however, were left for them 
to destroy. Chandler says : " Corinth has preserved but few 



MODERN GREECE. 371 

Jnonuments of its Greek or Roman citizens. The chief remains 
are at the south-west corner of the town, and above the bazar ; 
eleven columns supporting their architraves, ol' the Doric order, 
fluted, and wanting in height nearly half the common proportion 
to the diameter.* Witliin thern, towards the western end, is 
one taller, though not entire, which, it is likely, contributed to 
sustain the roof. They have been found to be stone, not mar- 
ble, and appear brown, perhaps from a crust formed on the out- 
side. The ruin is probably of very remote antiquity, and a 
portion of a fabric erected not only before the Greek city was 
destroyed, but before the Doric order had attained to maturity. 
I suspect it to have been the Sisypheum mentioned by Strabo.f 
North of the bazar stands a large mass of brick-work, a remnant, 
it may be conjectured, of a bath, or of the gymnasium." 

Of these eleven columns, only seven remained standing when 
Dr. Clarke visited Corinth, and only five of the seven supported 
an entablature. The destruction of four columns out of the 
eleven seen by Wheeler and Chandler, had been accomplished 
by the Turkish governor, who had used them in building a house, 
first blasting them into fragments with gun-powder. The dis- 
proportion of the length of these pillars to their diameter, is 
considered by this Traveller as an argument against, rather than 
in favour of, their high antiquity ; and there is no edifice noticed 
by Pausanias to which, he thinks, it more accurately corresponds, 
than the temple of Octavia, sister of Augustus, to whom the 
Corinthians were indebted for the restoration of their city. Sup- 
posing the bazar to occupy the site of the ancient Agora, its 
situation would agree with this supposition. Crusius, however, 
asserts that it is the temple of Juno,| which Pausanias mentions 
as being below the Acrocorinthus ; and Mr. Dodwell says : " It 
is probably the most ancient remaining in Greece, if we may 
judge by its massive and inelegant proportions. The columns 
are each composed of one block of calcareous stone which, being 
of a porous quality, was anciently covered with stucco of great 



^ Their height, instead of being equal to six diameters, the true proportion 
of the Doric shaft, according to Pliny, does not amount to four. 

t This supposition is rejected by Dr. Clarke as wholly improbable. " The 
Sisypheum was a building of such uncertain form, that Strabo, eighteen cen- 
turies ago, could not positively pronounce whether it had been a temple or 
a palace ; whereas the first sight of this, even in its present dilapidated state^ 
would have been sufficient to put the matter beyond dispute. The Sisypheum 
is not mentioned by Pausanias, which could not have been the case, if its re- 
mains were of this magnitude." 

X Pausanias terms it a hieron of Bunaean Juno ; a word of such doubtful 
iaiport, that whether he means a temple is questionable. 



372 MODERN GREECE. 

hardness and durability. A similar expedient has been prac- 
tised in all the temples of Greece, Sicily, and Italy, where the 
columns are of common stone." 

Dr. Clarke found, he says, the ruins of some ancient buildings, 
" particularly of one partly hewn in the rock, opposite the re- 
mains of the temple. The outside of this exhibits the marks of 
cramps for sustaining slabs of marble, once used in covering the 
walls ; a manne'r of building, perhaps, not of earlier date than the 
time of the Romans. In this building were several chambers 
all hewn in the rock, and one of them has still an oblong window 

remaining We were unable," he adds, "to find the theatre,* 

or any remains of a stadium ; but, close to the bazar, we saw 
part of a very large structure, built entirely of tiles or thin bricks. 
The people of the place remembered this more perfect ; and 
they described it as a building full of seats ranged one above the 
other. Possibly, therefore, it may have been the Odeum, un- 
less, indeed, it were an amphitheatre, or a theatre raised entirely 
from the ground, like the Coliseum at Rome." 

It is remarkable, that no remains appear to exist at Corinth, 
of any edifice of the order of architecture said to have been in- 
vented there ; nor could Mr. Dodwell perceive in any part of 
the Isthmus, the acanthus plant, which forms the distinctive char- 
acter of the Corinthian capital. 

The port of Cenchrese, which retains its acient name under 
the corrupted forms of Chencri and Kekreh,f was visited by 
the latter Traveller, from a wish to discover the site of some an- 
cint sepulchres, known only to a few of the inhabitants of Co- 
rinth, from which they had extracted vases of the highest anti- 
quity. " We passed," he says, " by some Roman sepulchres 
and ruins of no import, and, in forty minutes from Corinth, went 
a short distance from the village called Hexamilia, near which 
are some ancient stone-quarries of considerable extent. We 



* It is not a little singular, that neither Dr. Clarke nor Mr. Dodwell, any 
more than Chandler or Wheeler, could discover the theatre, which Sir W. Gell 
mentions as occurring in the route from Corinth to Cenchreae. "At 30 min- 
utes from Corinth, having left the road to Megara on the left, and passed a 
teke with cypresses on the left, near which is still (urther left, across a ploughed 
field, the ruin of a fine amphitheatre cut out of the natural rock, — cross a river 
from the right. On the descent to the stream, ancient foundations." 

t " At noon we dropped anchor in the port of Cenchris. A small hut near 
the port serves as a custom-house, the only remains of the ancient Cenchrese. 
Around it grew corn ; and some plantations of cotton were intermixed with 
the panicum miliaceum (panick grass or millet), still called by the Greeks 
Keyxpt- Might not the original cultivation of this plant here in preference to 
other places, have given name to the port and village .■"' — Sibthorpe's Voyage, 
in fValpole's Travels, p. 41. 



MODERN GREECE. 373 

crossed a stream, and observed some blocks of stone on its bank, 
perhaps the remains of a bridge. The ruins of a modern fort 
are seen on a hill to the right. These hills are the boundaries 
of the Isthmus. In an hour and tiiree quarters from Corinth, 
we arrived at the sea-side, and, in another quarter of an hour, 
at the Baths of Helen ; which time corresponds nearly to the 
70 siadia that Strabo gives as the distance between Corinth and 
Kenchreai. The entrance of the port is between two low capes, 
on one of which is a magazine and a modern tower in ruins, with 
some ancient remains.* Other traces are observed on the oppo- 
site cape. At the entrance of the port is an insular rock. Pau- 
sanias says : ' At Kenchreai there is a temple of Venus and a 
marble statue ; beyond which, in the current of the sea, there is 
a bronze Neptune ; and, on the other extremity of the port, are 
the temples of jEsculapius and Isis !' The actual appearance of 
the port itself elucidates the passage in Pausanias as well as a 
medal of Antoninus Pius.f It w^ould appear that the temple of 
Venus was on one cape ; those of jEsculapius and Isis on the 
other ; and the statue of Neptune on the insular mass which is 
surrounded with the sea. 

" The ' Bath of Helena' is at least a mile to the west of the 
port. The stream that issues from the rock, forms a deep bath 
several yards above the level of the sea : the water is beautifully 
clear, rather saline, and in a small degree tepid. f Instead of 
falling immediately into the sea, which, according to Pausanias, 
was formerly the case, it is diverted from its original course by 
ditches, and a large mill is turned by the rapidity of the current, 
which, after a course of a few hundred yards, enters near a 
round promontory*, projecting from the southern extremity of the 
hills which bound the western side of the Isthmus. From hence 
is seen the hilly shore stretching up towards the Epidauriad. 

" It appears that when Pausanias arrived at Kenchreai and 
the Bath of Helena, he returned by another road ; for it is only 
on his return, that he mentions some ancient sepulchres, which, 
he says, are near the road. I inquired of the millers at the Bath 
of Helena, if there was any way leading to Corinth, without re- 
tracing my steps. They informed me that there was no regular 
road, but that I might go by a bad and circuitous route, through 

* Several blocks of granite form the quay. Near the sea is " a curious 
sepulchial cavern." — Cell's Itin. p. 208. 

t The medal alluded to has a head of the emperor on one side, and, on the 
reverse, a semicircular port, at each projection of which is a temple ; and in 
the sea, at the entrance of the port, is a statue of Neptune, known by the tri- 
dent in his left hand, and a dolphin in his right. 

I According to Dr. Clarke, 64* of Fahrenheit. 



374 MODERN GREECE. 

a plain on the western side of a range of hills, beginning at the 
southern foot of the Acrocorinth, and terminating near the Bath 
of Helena. We accordingly proceeded through a very thick and 
very difficult forest of shrubs. In twenty-five minutes from the 
Bath of Helena, we passed some cottages, and in twelve minutes 
further, a village called Gallatachi. Half an hour more brought 
us to a miserable village called Mertese, and the first cottage we 
entered, presented objects of great interest, as connected with 
the sepulchres of which we were in search. Upon the shelf 
which goes round the interior of these cottages, and on which 
they place their smaller culinary utensils and vessels of earthen- 
ware, I saw two small vases of terra cotta, of rude but ancient 
workmanship : the other cottages exhibited vases of the same 
kind, but without any figures on them, or any thing which ren- 
dered them interesting in themselves. We succeeded, however, 
in persuading some of the villagers to accompany us to the spot 
where they were found, which is about a quarter of a mile from 
the village towards Corinth. We came to an eminence a little 
elevated above the other undulations of the plain, and found it 
covered with sepulchres of the vjioyaia kind, similar to those at 
the Piraeus. The countrymen opened a few in our presence, in 
which we found bones and several vases broken into small pieces. 
Those which were entire, were plain, and composed of a beau- 
tifully shining black varnish, which was still as fresh as on the 
day when it was painted. The vases were remarkably light, and 
of elegant forms. We also found a large cinerary urn, of com- 
mon earth, containing ashes and burnt bones. The sepulchres 
were confusedly placed, without any attention to regularity of 
arrangement, or to the direction of East and West. As it ap- 
peared probable that these sepulchres belonged to some ancient 
city in the vicinity, I made every inquiry which might lead to the 
discovery if any such place existed ; but was assured that noth- 
ing of the kind was known. This is another reason for suppos- 
ing them to be the tombs to which Pausanias refers on his return 
to Corinth, as he mentions no other remains in their vicinity ; 
and they could not have belonged to Corinth, from which they 
are distant at least seven miles. 

" The villagers of Mertese informed me, that a Jew of Co- 
rinth, who had lately been digging in this spot, had found several 
vases. On my return to Corinth, I immediately called upon 
him, and found them heaped in a corner with other rubbish. He, 
however, knew, or pretended to know, the value of an inscribed 
vase, which he shewed me, and which, with some difficulty, I 
fcought of him. The designs of the figures and the forms of the 



MODERN GREECK. 375 

letters are of the most ancient character ; and probably no vase 
of terra cotta has yet been discovered that belongs to a period so 
remote. It is divided intotwo compartments, one above the other, 
in which are lions, bulls, stags, goats, birds, and flowers, which 
are not historical, but merely ornamental. The cover, however, 
is of the greatest interest ; it represents the chase of a wild boar, 
in which the name of each of the actors is written by his side, 
in letters of the most ancient date. The subject is opened by a 
figure dressed in a long garment, and carrying a caduceus in Ms 
right hand, with the inscription, Agamemnon. The next figure 
is a female named Alka. She places her right hand on the 
head of a boy, who holds a parazonion, or short sword, in his 
left hand, and whose name is Doremachos, written from right to 
left. The next figure is a female named Sakes, holding a singu- 
lar and indefinite object in her hand. This appears to be the 
conclusion of the subject, as a bird is placed after this figure, 
which is often found on the most ancient vases, marking the ter- 
mination of the story, or the separation of one subject from 
another. The figure w^hich commences the other subject is 
Andrytos, armed with a large Argolic shield, with knemides, with 
the xoTTog or SoXixodyttoi ayx^^^ (the long spear), which he is 
darting at the boar, and wearing a short vest or cuirass, not 
reaching to his knees. The next to this is Paphon, who is run- 
ning, and in the act of shooting at the boar v/ith his bow and 
arrow ; his quiver is hanging on his back, and his head is armed 
with a helmet, embellished with a high lophos, or crest. After 
this figure is placed a bird, smaller than that above mentioned, 
which appears to be only an ornament to fill up the space, and 
not a stop to the subject. This continues with the wild boar, 
which is already pierced behind with two long spears and three 
short ones, shot from the bow of Paphon. Under the animal is 
the figure of one of the hunters, named Philon, holding a long 
spear, but extended on the ground, as if killed by the boar, which 
is running at full speed, and is met by Thersandros, who pierces 
his head with a sword. Only one of the figures is armed with a 
helmet, and one with a shield. This is the termination of the 
subject. The remaining part of the cover is occupied by two 
winged sphinxes, with human heads and the bodies and feet of 
lions ; they face each other, and are couched upon their hinder 
legs, their foremost being erect. Between them is a bird re- 
sembling a swan. The figures were evidently draw^n with great 
care, and executed with difficulty, before the facility of after 
times bad been attained. No better specimen of the unimproved 
archaic style can well be seen. There is a natural motion in all 



376 MODERN GREECE. 

the figures, attended, however, with tlie rigid formality and 
elaborate stiffness of the earliest antiquity. The vase is the 
colour of box-wood, being a light yellow ; the figures are com- 
posed of the two colours, black and dark red ; the muscles of the 
body and the plaits of the vests are represented by the paint 
being scratched with a sharp instrument, until the natural colour 
of the earth is seen. The earth is extremely fine, and the vase 
is surprisingly light and thin. It is difficult, and indeed impossi- 
ble', to determine its age ; the style of the design, however, but 
more particularly the very ancient and curious form of the letters, 
induces me to place it about 700 years before the Christian era. 
" None of the names on the vase are known in heroic history, 
except those/ of Agamemnon and Thersandros. The latter was 
probably son of Sisyphos, king of Ephyra (aftewards Corinth). 
There was, however, another, Thersandros, son of Polynices 
and Argia, who was with the Greeks at the Trojan war. The 
hunt which is here represented, is unknown in ancient history.* 
Those which have come down to us are, the chase of the Caly- 
donian boar, and that of Parnassus, where Ulysses was wounded. 
Tiie Cromyon sow and Erymanthian boar, which were killed by 
Theseus and Hercules seem not to have afforded the opportuni- 
ty of a general hunt like the two above mentioned."f 

THE ISTHMUS. 

Hexamilia derives its name from being situated where the 
Isthmus is six miles over. Beyond this village towards Mount 
Oneius, which rises to the north of Port Schoenus, Dr. Clarke 
thought he observed the form of an ancient theatre, of which noth- 
ing but the koilon re:Bains ; and crossing an artificial causeway 
over a fosse, tie sgon found himself within the walls of the ancient 
Isthmian town. Here, the ground is covered with fragments of 
various-coloured marble, grey granite, white limestone, broken 
pottery, and disjointed shafts, capitals, and cornices, among 

* The wild boar chase is not an uncommon delineation on fictile vases. There 
is one of great interest and remote antiquity, in the collection of Sir W. Ham- 
ilton, which is at present in the British Museum. 

f Dodwell, vol. ii. pp. 194 — 200 The learned Traveller describes also the 
marble irepiaTomov, or mouth of a well, which he saw when at Corinth, but 
which is now in the collection of the Earl of Guilford at London. On the ex- 
terior are sculptured ten figures of divinities in very low relief, partaking of 
the dry rigidity of the earliest sculpture. The subject is supposed to allude to 
the reconciliation of Apollo and Hercules, and the sculpture had probably be- 
longed, as the mouth of one of thfe sacred wells used in sacrificial lustrations, to 
tlie Temple of Apollo. 



MODERN GREECE. 377 

wliich was part of the' fluted shall of a Doric column five feet in 
diameter. The ancient wall, which traverses the Isthmus, 
jnakes a sudden turn before it reaches the shore of the Saronic 
Gulf, and bearing away towards Mount Oneius,* embraces the 
whole of tlie port of Schoenus, closing it in upon the Corinthian 
side. The ruins of the Temple of Neptune, the stadium, and tlie 
theatre, together with walls and other indications of the Isth- 
mian town, surround this port, being situated on the sides of the 
mountain sloping down to the sea. 

The remains of the Temple of Neptune, near which the 
Isthmian Games were celebrated, are to the west of the wall, 
upon an area of 276 paces in length by 64. A Greek chapel, 
now in a ruined state, occupies part of this area. Of the tem- 
ple itself, not a single pillar is now erect ; but the fallen columns, 
with their entablatures, yet remain. The material is a white 
limestone. The workmanship of the capitals, the fluting of the 
columnSj and the other ornamental parts are very beautiful. 
Among seven or eight of these capitals. Dr. Clarke found only 
one with the acanthus ornament ; yet, he supposes the building 
to have been of the Corinthian order. It was of small dimen- 
sions : the shafts of some of the columns are only 2 feet 9 
inches in diameter. 

The' theatre adjoined the southern wall of the area of the 
temple. The koilon, which alone remains, has been almost 
filled up with the ruins of the temple and by the effect of earth- 
quakes : it faces the port. West of the theatre, at right angles 
with the Isthmian wall, is the stadium, extending east and west, 
parallel to one side of the area of the temple. The stone 
front-work and some of the benches remain at the upper end, 
although earthquakes or torrents have forced channels into 
the arena. 

Just at the place where the Isthmian wall joins Mount Oneius, 
is a tumulus ; " perhaps that which was supposed to contain the 
body of Melicertes, in honour of whose burial the Isthmian 
games were instituted, above 1300 years before the christian 
era." Within the sacved peribolus, Pausanias states, there was a 
temple dedicated to Melicertes, which contained statues of the 

* " There is a small ridge of a hill running- along in the midflle of the isth- 
mus, that I should not have taken notice of, bad not Thucydides pu) me in 
mind of it, calling it Moiis Oneius, situate between the Port Cenchre and 
Cromium, which hindered that part of the Corinthian army left at Cenctire 
from seeing how things passed at Cromium with the other pai t of their forces, 
who had joined battle with the Athenians, until by the dust that was raisCcl 
they had notice thereof." — Wheeler, p. 437. 

48 



378 MODERN GREECE. 

boy, of his mother Leucothea, and of Neptune.* This tomb 
stands on a very conspicuous eminence above the wall, " almost 
contiguous" to the peribolus. Between the stadium and the 
wall, Dr. Clarke found fragments of Doric columns nearly six 
feet in diameter. " But among all the remains here," he adds, 
" perhaps the most remarkable, as corresponding to the indications 
of the spot left us by Pausanias, is the living family of those 
pine-trees sacred to Neptune, which he says, grew in a right line 
upon one side in the approach to the temple, the statues of the 
victors in the Games being Upon the other side. Many of these, 
self-sown, are seen on the outside of the wall, upon the slope of 
the land facing the port : they may also be observed further 
along the coast. Every thing conspires to render their appear- 
ance here particularly interesting. The victors in the Isthmia 
were originally crowned with garlands made of their leaves ;f 
and that they were regarded with a superstitious veneration to a 
late age, appears from their being represented on the Greek co- 
lonial medals struck in honour of the Roman emperors." 

The vicinity of these ruins to the sea, has very much facil- 
itated the removal of many valuable antiquities, and the inhab- 
itants of all the neighbouring shores have long been accustomed 
to resort thither as to a quarry for building materials, J but exca- 
vations would probably lead to the recovery of some interesting 
remains. At Hexamilia, the villagers offered for sale a great 
number of bronze coins, and silver and bronze medals, which 

* Melicertes was the son of Athamas, king of Thebes. Ino, his mother 
fled with him to prevent his sharing the fate of his brother Learchus, whom 
his father had destroyed by dashing him against a wall ; and in her terror or 
despair, she threw herself, with the child in her arms, into the sea, where they 
were compassionately changed by Neptune into marine deities. Ino was 
worshipped by the Greeks under the pame of Leucothoe, and under that of 
Matuta by the Romans. Melicertes was known to the former by the name of 
Palsemon, and among the latter by that of Portumnus. Thus, the supposed 
origin of the Isthmian games, like that of the INemean, was funereal, and, 
what is remarkable, in commemoration of the death of an infant. They 
were under the patronage of Neptune, as the Olympic were under that 
of Jupiter. 

t Chaplets of Parsley were afterwards used instead of them, but these were 
at length discontinued, and the wreaths of pine-leaves came again in request. 
:j: This work of spoliation appears to have been carried on since Wheeler's 
time, if we may judge from his account of the ruins then existing. " There 
are yet to be seen," he says, " the ruins not only of the town, old walls, and 
several old churches, but also the remains of the Isthmian theatre. Here were 
many more temples and excellent edifices mentioned by Pausanias ; and many 
more he gives no account of, as we learned from a very fine inscription we 
found half way in the ground, by a little ruined church, which speaks of many 
temples, gardens, and porticoes repaired by one Publius Licinius Priscus 
Juventianus." This inscribed marble is now in the Museum at Verona. 



MODERN GREECE. 379 

had been found among the ruins. Between die ruins and that 
village, by the side of the old road from Corinth to the Isthmian 
town, are several sepulchral mounds. " There yet exist," Sir 
W. Gell says, " traces of a canal or ditch carried from the port 
of Schoenus along a natural hollow at the foot of a line of fortifica- 
tions. There are also several pits which have been sunk for the 
purpose of examining the rock previously to cutting through the 
Isthmus, which has often been in contemplation.* The ground, 
however, is so high that the undertaking would be one of enor- 
mous expense. This place is also ill chosen loi* defence, as it is 
overlooked by Mount Geranion, on which tlie fortifications should 
be erected." ' 

It is uncertain at what period the Corinthian Isthmus was first 
fortified vnth walls. Herodotus states that, after the death of 
Leonidas, the Peloponnesians, dreading the Persian invasion, 
broke up the Scironian way, and built in haste a wall across the 
Isthmus, composed of all sorts of materials, — stones, bricks, tim- 
ber, and sand. This wall reached from Lechaeum to Cenchreae, 
a distance of five miles. It was afterwards fortified by the Spar- 
tans and the Athenians in the time of Epaminondas. Cleoraenes 
is stated to have secured the space between the Acrocorinthus 
and the Oneian mountains with banks and ditches, and to have 
fortified also the Oneian passes. This bulwark was afterwards 
repeatedly destroyed, and as often rebuilt. It was restored by 
the Emperor Valerian, to resist a Scythian invasion, and was 
again rebuilt by Justinian, who fortified it with a hundred and 
fifty towers. It appears to have been neglected and to have 
fallen into a dilapidated state, when, in the year 1415, it was re- 
paired or rebuilt by Manuel Palaeologus. It was again repaired, 
twenty-nine years afterwards, by Constantino Palasologus, and 
by the Venetians in J463, who are said to have fordfied it with 
one hundred and thirty-six towers and double trenches, the whole 
work being completed in fifteen days by 30,000 men. It was 
again restored by the Venetians in 1696, and, at the peace of 
1699, was made the boundary of the territories of the Republic. f 

The existing vestiges of the ancient wall are found about three 

^ The pi-oject was adopted by Demetrius Poliorcetes, but his surveyors found 
the water in the Corinthian Gulf much higher than before Cenchreae, and 
were of opinion that Mgina and the neighbouring islands would be flooded, 
and the canal prove unserviceable. It was revived by Julius Caesar and by 
Caligula. Nero commenced a fosse from Lechseum, and advanced about four 
stadia. Atticus Herodes was ambitious of engaging in it ; but, as Nero had 
failed, was afraid of offending the emperor by asking his permission." — Chan- 
dler, c. 58 

t See authorities in Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 186. 



380 MODERN GREECE. 

miles from Corinth, where the Isthmus is " four short miles in 
width," and to the north of that which extended from Lechseum 
to Cenchrese.* On the eastern side of the Isthmus, for a con- 
siderable distance, the ground appears low and swampy, as if an 
excavation had been begun at some remote period for the pur- 
pose of admitting the sea-water to strengthen the position. " Im- 
mediately in front of Corinth, are the vestiges of the modern field- 
works constructed by the Venetians, terminated, on the western 
side, by a square redoubt on the Corinthian Gulf near Lechse- 
um : on the east, there was no necessity to continue these 
works to the shore, on account of a difficult mountain between 
Coriiith and the sea. The position of Lechaeum, as well as of 
Cenchrese, is sufficiently marked by traces of stone foundations in 
the sea, which formed the enclosure of the harbour. These 
poits are now almost entirely filled up and destroyed, and are 
capable only of admitting the very small boats of the country ."f 
At the first view, it appears strange that the Greeks should build 
a wall across the Isthmus as a defence against invasion, instead of 
fortifying the gorge in the first barrier of Mount Geranion. The 
latter mode of defence, however, was not neglected ; and it may 
be supposed, that an advanced guard would be stationed to dis- 
pute that important pass.f At the same time, they would have 
to provide against any force which the Persians might attempt to 
debark on the Isthmus, in the event of a victory obtained by their 
naval armaments. The ancient line of fortification, therefore, 
was so drawn as to enclose the harbour of Cenchrese, and to al- 
low as little space as possible for a debarkation in their rear. In 
point of fact, the wall has uniformly proved a feeble barrier. 
In the fifteenth century, it was three times forced by the Turks. 
The pass over Mount Geranion might be defended by a handful 
of men against the most formidable invader. Yet, in 1822, the 
Turkish army was suffered to enter the Isthmus without opposi- 
tion, and to repossess themselves of Corinth. 

FROM CORINTH TO MEGARA. 

From Port Schoenus, the lower road to Megara lies over a 
small plain, intersected by frequent torrents, lying between the 

* The breadth of the Isthmus at the diolcos or portage between the two seas, 
at which it was usual to transport light vessels across on machines, was 40 
stadia. 

t Remarks on the Isthmus by Colonel Squire, in Walpole's Memoirs, p. 342. 

t The Teixos Tcpavsia is mentioned by Scylax. It appears to have been first 
fortified by Cleomenes. 



MODERN GREECE. 381 

foot of Mount Geranion and the Gulf, which forms several deep 
bays. At the end of about an hour and a iialf, (three hours, 
forty-two minutes from Corinth,) having passed a church and 
some olive-plantations, is the village of Kasidi, the name of which 
seems to identify it with the ancient Sidus. Here are a few 
traces of antiquity. Twenty-five minutes further, having crossed 
two more torrents, the traveller has, on his right, a church with 
a white marble architi-ave to the door : the peasants call the 
place Leandra. The path now skirts a bay ; on the left, the 
hill recedes, leaving a small plain covered with pine-forests. The 
traces of chariot-wheels are yet visible in the rocky road. At 
eighty minutes from Kasidi is a ruined church with ancient blocks 
on the left, which probably marks the site of the ancient Crom- 
myon. Eleven minutes further, is the Albanian village of Kineta, 
in a wood of olives at a short distance from the sea. The name 
of this miserable hamlet, as Dr. Clarke styles it, is said to be 
taken from a small lagoon or marsh on the beach, which pro- 
duces such swarms of gnats in the autumn as to amount almost 
to a plague. The sickly looks of the inhabitants betrayed the in- 
salubrity of the situation. 

From Kineta, there are two different routes to Megara. One, 
turning to the left, ascends the foot of Mount Geranion, and, in 
little more than two hours, falls into the great road from Corinth to 
Megara. The other runs along the southern side of the moun- 
tain. This is the Scironian way, now called Kaki Scala (pro- 
nounced Katche Scala), the Bad Way, and used only, in gene- 
ral, by foot passengers ; but Dr. Clarke took this route, having 
provided himself at Kineta with asses and Albanian guides. At 
•twenty minutes east of that village, the Scironian rocks advance 
to the sea. These rocks, the learned Traveller says, have a 
very remarkable appearance. They consist of breccia super- 
posed upon limestone, presenting a steep and slippery slope from 
the narrowest part of the Isthmian Strait towards the Saronic 
Gulf. The rock is so highly polished, either by the action 
of the sea or by occasional torrents, that any person falling 
from the heights would glide as over a surface of glass, and be 
dashed to pieces on the shore. The road, though said to have 
been widened by the Emperor Hadrian, is so narrow, that, after 
gaining the heights, there is barely room for two persons on 
horseback to pass each other. The lofty summit of Mount Ge- 
rania (now called Palaio-vouni),* which overhangs the pass, is 

* TIoKaio ^ovvos, the old hill. Mr. Dodwell says, it is called Derveni-Bouno. 
The ancient name of the mountain is stated to have been given it because Me- 
garus escaped hither in Deucalion's flood, being guided by the noise of cranes. 



382 MODERN GREECE. 

covered with snow during the greater part of the year. Sir 
George Wheeler, who travelled from Megara to Corinth by this 
route, says : " It is worthily called Ka%7] Z-nala,, the bad way ; 
for it is one of the worst I ever travelled, for narrowness, rugged- 
ness, and danger of falling down some hundred yards headlong 
into the sea, which the least stumbie of our horses might easily 
effect. This way, ii^ ancient times, was famous for the robber 
Sciron, who from thence threw headlong into the sea all such as 
he had robbed, until Theseus came, who was to hard for him, 
and justly made him taste the same punishment he had so barba- 
rously inflicted upon others. The road is at this time (1676) 
little less infested v/ith the ambuscades of corsairs, that it was of 
old by that tliief. Turks themselves dread and tremble to go 
this way, for fear of these people. As we passed along, I ob- 
served the wind to precipitate itself strangely down from the top 
of the mountain into the sea, some blasts seeming to fall right 
down upon the surface of the water, and there, to be divided 
three or four different ways, making the waves to foam as they 
went. Sometimes I saw the water agitated for several furlongs 
round about, and in other parts smooth and calm at the same 
time." The sudden gusts of the Skiron (as the wind is called) 
are much dreaded by sailors. At one place, where the rock 
impends over the sea, Ino is said to have precipitated herself 
into the waves, with her son Melicertes, to escape the fury of 
her husband. The navigation, besides being both tedious and 
difficult, owing to the gusts from the mountain, is rendered still 
more dangerous by some pointed rocks near the foot of the pre- 
cipice which Ovid makes to-be the hones of Sciron. 

Soon after reaching the summit of the pass. Dr. Clarke came 
to " the ancient paved way leading from Attica into Peloponne- 
sus, and arrived at the wall and arched gate high above the sea, 
where, in the narrow strait is still marked the ancient boundary 
between the two countries. The old portal, once of so much 
importance, is now a ruin ; but part of the stone-work, mixed 
with tiles, which was above an arch, yet remains on the side of 
the mountain ; and beyond it is seen more of the old paved 
road." Close to the " Scironian Gate," the learned Traveller 
observed a prodigious block of white marble, lying out of the 
road upon the brink of the precipice, and which had very nearly 
fallen into the sea. The inscription upon it was illegible, but is 
supposed to relate to the widening of the road by Hadrian. Here, 
it is conjectured, may have stood the stele erected by Theseus, 
which bore on one side the inscription " Here is Peloponnesus, 
not Ionia ; and on the other, " Here is not Peloponnesus, but 



MODERN GREECE. 383 

Ionia." The traveller begins to descend almost immediately 
having before him a beautiful and extensive plain, walled in 
on all sides by mountains, at one corner of which, situated upon 
a rocky elevation, is seen the town of Megara.* 

Mr. Dodwell entered the Morea by the Upper Way, or the 
Great Derveni. In two hours and a half from Megara, he 
reached the foot of Mount Gerania, and began to ascend by a 
steep and winding way. In ten minutes he had a view of the 
Halcyonian Gulf, now called Livados^ro, forming a deep bay on 
the right, bounded by the rocky moi^.tains called Germano and 
Makriplai, at the foot of which are the villages and ports of 
Elapochori, Psatho, and Livadostro.f A few minutes more 
brought him to the derveni, or custom-house, where a Turk and 
a dozen squalid and insolent Albanian soldiers were stationed in 
the narrowest part of the pass. The road continues to ascend, 
passing through a forest of pines, with a great profusion of beau- 
tiful shrubs. In forty minutes he reached an elevated part of 

* The Scironian rocks commence about twenty minutes E. of Klneta, and 
terminate about six hours from Corinth, and two hours from Megara. The 
distance was reckoned forty-eight stadia, or not quite six miles. The distance 
from Kineta to Megara by the Scironian way, Sir William Gell makes less 
than three hours ; total distance from Corinth to Megara, eight hours six 
minutes. Soon after entering the pass, on the left, is seen a monastery on 
Mount Geranion ; and five minutes further, " a well and limekiln, in which 
have nearly perished the remains of an octagonal edifice, perhaps the temple 
of ApoUo Latous, of white marble." This appears to be " the ancient monu- 
ment" spoken of by Wheeler, " about midway from Megara to Corinth." 
He describes it as " being raised up three or four yards from the ground, and 
eight square. About it lay several large planks of marble, some with basso- 
relievos upon them ; one of which hath a man walking on foot, and a liorse 
passing by him the other w-ay, anotiier hath a figure in a lying posture, but 
much defaced. Whether this was the pedestal to the pillar ihat King Theseus 
set up to be the bounds between his Athenians and the Peloponnesians, I dare 
not say, but rather think it was some octagon temple ; it may well enougli be 
that of Apollo and Latona, which Pausanias placeth hereabout." Nineteen 
minutes more, according to Sir W. Gell, bring the traveller to a Venetian wall 
and watch-tower. " In ten minutes more, the road is carried on a shelf of 
rock, in which are caves. At five minutes after, a descent, a modern wall and 
gate. At fourteen minutes beyond, having descended to the only dangerous 
part of the road, ascend and find the site of an ancient gate, near which is a de- 
faced inscription on a blsck of marble, and may be that which marked the 
separation of Corinthia from Megaris." This is evidently the Scironian Gate 
of Dr. Clarke. Hence the road proceeds along the rocks to the plain of Me- 
gara, in another hour and a half, or less. 

t "The rough and craggy elevations which run in concatenated ridges from 
Gerania and the Skironian Rocks into the Corinthian Gulf, are the Oneian moun- . 
tains, at present named Makriplai, which form the sea of Halcyon ; one chain 
advancing towards Cithseron and Boeotia,' the other terminating opposite Si- 
cyoi^in the Olmian promontory." — Dodwell. A road leads off to the right 
to the village of Porto Germano, which Sir W. Gell supposes to be the ancient 
.^gosthenffi, and where there are considerable ruins of ancient fortifications. 
Beyond this village is Psatho, on or near the site of Pagse. 



384 MODERN GREECE. 

the mountain, commanding a most animating panoramic view. 
Below appeared the Isthmus, the Acrocorinthus, and the Saronic 
and Crissaean Gulfs. The more remote prospect comprised the 
soft and undulating lines of the Attic coast, terminating in the 
promontory of Sunium, which was distinguishable as a speck 
upon the blue ether. The beautifully varied cOast of Argolis, 
the abrupt and pointed promontory of Methana, with the islands 
of Calauria, jEgina, and Salamis, were seen embellishing the 
Saronic Gulf. Beyond the Corinthian Sea, were distinguished 
the hills of Achaia, surmounted by the white and glittering sum- 
mits of the Arcadian range.* 

The road continues along the steep and rocky side of Gerania, 
through forests of pine and shrubberies of myrtle and lentiscus ; 
then, after traversing some cotton-grounds, and crossing a brook 
flowing down the eastern side of the mountain towards Megaris, 
it ascends by another rivulet to a fountain surrounded with plane- 
trees ; the place is called Migues (orEtg rris MLyos). Twenty 
minutes further, to the left of the road, is a litde knoll, sur- 
mounted with vestiges of a circular tower or tomb, and com- 
manding a fine vjew of Corinth. In two hours from the fountain, 
Mr. Dodwell reached the western foot of Gerania, and entered 
the Isthmus. Soon after, he crossed a bank and large fosse, 
supposed to be the works begun by Nero, and a quarter of an 
hour further, the lines raised to defend the entrance into the Pe- 
loponnesus against the Turks. A little beyond, are ancient 
foundations of a similar kind. In an hour and three quarters 
from the foot of the mountain, he arrived at Corinth. The total 
distance from Corinth to Megara by this route is eight hours and 
thirty-three minutes, being not quite half an hour longer than the 
route by the Scironian rocks : the route by Kinetta and the 
Great Dei'veni is eleven hours and ten minutes. f 

A short distance to the south-west of the Canal of Nero, and 
about thirty-five minutes from Corinth, is Lechaeum,J now con- 
sisting of about six houses, some magazines, and a custom-house. 
East of the town, the remains of the ancient port are yet visible 

* The top of the pass, between two summits of Geranion, has been fortified, 
and the foundations of the wall are yet visible. The position, Sir W. Gell says, 
would be quite impregnable, if maintained by troops sufficiently numerous to 
protect it from the Scironian Rocks to the Gulf of Livadostro. The view over 
the Saronic Gulf is magnificent. The summit of Gerania, according to Pau- 
sanias, was ornamented with the temple of Jupiter Aphesius ; and "there 
seems to be a peribolus on a summit to the left of the pass." As the word summit, 
however, admits of great latitude. Sir W. Gell suggests, that the sit^pf the 
temple may be occupied by the monastery above the village of Kineta* 

t Gell's Itin. of Greece, p. 5.' 

t The road to it ran between long walls, reaching twelve stadia. 



MODERN GREECE. 3S5 

at a place where the sea forms a creek. Wheeler says, it is now 
quite choked up. Near it are the remains of a Venetian fort. 
Close to tlie spot where the canal ceases, are two immense tu- 
muli, which appear never to have been opened : one of them 
seems to be erected over a sepulchral cavern, and there are 
other caves in tlie rocks below. Dr. Clarke traced the canal to 
the shore, where he observed the rocks hewn into steps to serve 
as a landing-place. " The remains of the Temple of Neptune," 
he says, " are very considerable. It has not yet ceased to be a 
place of worship. We found here one of the idol pictures of 
the Greek Church, and some ancient vases, serving, although in 
a broken state, as vessels and offerings upon the present altar. 
There is a bath, to which they still bring patients for relief. A 
short time before our arrival, this ancient bath was covered ; but 
wanting materials for building a mill, the inhabitants of a neigh- 
bouring village blasted the rocks, which falling into the bath have 
almost filled it. The water is very clear and brilliant, slightly 
brackish : it comes out of the rock from two holes in the bath, 
and thence falls into the sea. The temperature in the shade was 
found to be SS'^ ; that of the sea 75°. All around this place 
are sepulchral caves hewn in the rocks near the sea, resembling 
the burial-places in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; but the 
caves here are much smaller, and the recesses within them, in- 
stead of being intended as receptacles for bodies, were evidently 
niches for cinerary urns ; a mode of sepulture characterising the 
Romans, rather than the Greeks. Several of these caves re- 
main yet unopened, and the entrances of some are entirely con- 
cealed." 

Dr. Clarke represents the Canal of Nero as terminating 
" where the solid rock opposed an insurmountable obstacle" to 
the prosecution of the work. It is scarcely credible, however, 
tliat the undertaking should have been commenced without an 
accurate calculation of the physical difficulties to be surmounted, 
or that these should have led to its sudden abandonment.* In 
order to stimulate the perseverance of the people, Nero, we are 
told, took a spade and dug with his own hand. There is reason 
to think that impediments of a very different kind, originating in 
superstitious alarms or in interested and crafty opposition, occa- 

* Sir W. Gell says : " The cutting a canal across the Isthmus would be 
diflScult in the centre ; but, on the west, the land is low, and on the east, a 
glen runs up to some distance from the sea." Des Mouceaux, who travelled 
in 16t>8, says, that in some parts it would have been necessary to dig the canal 
to the depth of fifteen toises, and almost throughout, of ten, with the exception 
of the two extremities, where the land declines towards the sea. 

49 



S86 MODERN GREECE. 

sioned the relinquishment of the project. The legend of the 
place is, that the workmen continued the excavation till blood 
was perceived to issue from the earth. " Dion Cassius," re-, 
marks Mr. Dodwell, " tells nearly the same story about digging 
the Isthmus as that which is related to travellers at this day. He 
says, that blood issued from the ground, that groans and lamen- 
tations were heard, and terrible apparitions were seen. It is not 
unlikely that the priests of Delphi had some influence in checking 
the enterprise. We know from the testimony of Herodotus and 
Pausanias, that the Pythia forbade the Gnidians to make a chan- 
nel through their Isthmus, alleging, that if Jupiter had intended 
the peninsula to have been an island, he would have made it so 
originally. We know also, that an oracle prevented Nechos, 
king of Egypt, from cutting a canal from the Nile to the Arabian 
Gulf." The reason that is said to have deterred Demetrius from 
the undertaking, namely, the supposed difference of level be- 
tween the waters of the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, has pre- 
vented many similar undertakings. Both Sesostris and Darius 
were in like manner deterred from finishing a canal from the 
Red Sea to the Nile, by an apprehension that Egypt would be 
inundated. And, in our own times, the supposed difference of 
level between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, has 
been considered as a fatal objection to the project of cutting a 
passage across the American Isthmus. It seems strange, that if 
Demetrius was deterred by this apprehension, the project should 
have been so frequently renewed. The feasibility of the,scheme 
will now probably be, ere long, fully ascertamed ; but, as the 
original motives for undertaking it have been superseded by the 
improvement of the moderns in the arts of navigation and milita- 
ry defence, it does not seem likely that any advantages which 
could result from its completion, would be equal to the labour 
and expense. 



FROM CORINTH TO SICYON. 

A WRETCHED village of fifty houses, bearing the imposing 
name of Basilico,* is the only representative of the once opulent 
city of SIcyon, one of the most ancient seats of Grecian power : 
its little kingdom was, indeed, one of the most ancient in Europe. 

* Bafl-jXi«f>7 signifies a royal palace : this name is given to Sicyon by some of 
the Byzantine historians. It has also, at different times, been denominated 
^gialeus, Mekon, Telekinia, and, when taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes, De- 
metrias. See authorities in Dodwell. 



BiODERN GREECE. 387 

'It is supposed to have been founded 232 years before Argos, 
and 2089 B.C. It was sufficiently strong to resist tlie attacks 
of the Athenians under Pericles ; it furnished a contingent of 
3000 troops at Plat«a, and had fifteen ships at the battle of Sa- 
lamis. After the destruction of Corinth by the Romans, Sicyon 
became possessed of the greater part of the Corinthian territory ; 
and its citizens for some time had the superintendence of the 
Isthmian Games. This city was the school of the most cele- 
brated artists of antiquity, and was sumptuously decorated with 
temples and statues. Pausanias enumerates five temples (^vaoi)^ 
eleven kiera, one cekema, a theatre, two gymnasia, an agora, a 
portico, a senate-house, and a temenos for the Roman emperors, 
with numerous altars, monuments, and statues of ivory and gold, 
of marble, of bronze, and of wood. But in his time, it was 
reduced to great distress, having been recently overthrown by 
an eaithquake. 

The ruins of Sicyon still retain some vestiges of ancient mag- 
nificence ; and in a few instances, they exist in such a state of 
preservation as to shew that some of the buildings must either 
have escaped from the effects of the earthquake, or have been 
constructed at a later period. In this number is tiie theatre, pro- 
nounced by Dr. Clarke to be " by much the finest and the most 
perfect structure of the kind in all Greece," — " surpassing every 
other in the harmony of its proportions, the costliness of the 
workmanship, the grandeur of the koilon, and the stupendous 
nature of the prospect exlribited to all those who were seated on 
its benches.* If," continues the learned Traveller, " it were 
freed from the rubbish about it, and laid open to view, it would 
afford an astonisliing idea of the magnificence of a city whose 
luxuries were so great, that its inhabitants ranked among the most 
voluptuous and effeminate people of all Greece. The stone- 
wovk is entirely of that massive kind which denotes a very high 
antiquity. Part of the scene remains, together, with the whole 
of the seats, although some of the latter now lie concealed by 
the soil. But the most remarkable parts of the structure are 
two vaulted passages for places of entrance, one being on either 
side, at the two extremities of the- coilon, close to the scene, and 

* Mr. Dodwell says , " Several dilapidated churches, which are composed 
of ancient Aagunents, probably occupy the site of the temples. Several frag- 
ments of ihe Y))r\c order are observable among them, particularly (riglvphs 
and metopes of curious forms, but geoerally of small proportions " He spt- aJcs 
of the remains of the gymnasium or stadium as supported by strong »va!!s of 
polygonal construction. Near the theatre are some large masses ot Romaa 
brick walls. Neither Mr. Dodwell ntjr Sir VV. Gell speaks so highly of the 
tkeatre as Dr. Clarke. 



388 MODERN GREECE. 

abbut half way up, leading into what we should call the side 
boxes of a modern theatre. Immediately in front, the eye 
roams over all the Gulf of Corinth, commanding islands, pro- 
montories, and distant summits towering above the clouds. To 
a person seated in the middle of the cavea, a lofty mountain with 
bold sweeping sides appears beyond the Gulf, placed exactly in 
the centre of the vieA'.', the sea intervening between its base and 
the Sicyonian coast : this mountain marks the particular part of 
Boeotia now pointed out by the natives of Basilico as Thiva 
(Thebes). But, to a person placed upon the seats which are 
upon the right hand of those in front, Parnassus (here called 
Lakura, from its ancient name, Lycorea) most nobly displays 
itself. This mountain is visible only in very clear weather. 
During the short time we remained in the theatre, it became 
covered with vast clouds, which at first rolled majestically over 
its summit, and afterwards concealed it from our view. 

" The stadiufti is on the right hand of a person facing the 
theatre. It is undoubtedly the oldest work remaining of all that 
belonged to the ancient city. The walls exactly resemble those 
of Mycenae and Tiryns : it may therefore class among the exam- 
ples of Cyclopean masonry. In other respects, it is the most 
remarkable structure of the kind existing, because it is partly a 
natural and partly an artificial work. The persoas by whom it 
was formed, finding that the mountain upon which the coilon of 
the theatre had been constructed, would not allow a sufficient 
space for another oblong cavea of the length requisite to com- 
plete a stadium, built up an artificial rampart, reaching out into 
the plain from the mountain towards the sea ; so that this front- 
work resembles half a stadium, thrust into the semicircular cavity 
of a theatre, the entrances to the area included between both, 
being formed with great taste and effect at the two sides or ex- 
tremities of the semicircles. The ancient masonry appears in 
the front-work so placed. The length of the whole area equals 
267 paces ; the width of the bastion, 36 paces ; and its height, 
22 feet 6 inches. 

" In front of the. projecting rampart belonging to the outer ex- 
tremity of the stadium, and at -a short distance below it in the 
plain, are also the remains of a temple, completing the plan of 
this part of the ancient city, which was here terminated on its 
western side by three magnificent structures, — a theatre, a sta- 
dium, and a temple ; as it was bounded towards its eastern ex- 
tremity by its acropolis. We can be at no loss for the name of 
this temple, although nothing but the ground-plot of it now re- 
maios. It is distinctly stated by Pausanias to have been the 



MODERN GREECE. 389 

temple of Bacchus, which occurred beyond the theatre to a per- 
son coaling from the citadel ; and to this temple were made 
those annual processions which took place at night and by the 
light of torches, when the Sicyonians brought hither the mystic 
images called Bacchus and Lysius, chanting their ancient hymns. 
Around die theatre and stadium, besides the traces of tliis tem- 
ple, otlier ruins may be noticed, but less distinct as to their form. 
In the plain towards the sea, are many more, perhaps extending 
to the Sicyonian haven, which we did not visit. 

" The whole city occupied an elevated situation ; but, as it 
did not possess one of those precipitous rocks for its citadel 
which sustained the bulwtu-ks of Athens, Argos, Corinth, and 
many other Grecian states, no vestige of its acropolis can now 
be discerned, excepting only the traces of its walls. It is situate 
above the place now called Palaio- Castro, occupying that part 

of the ruins of Sicyon which lies upon the south-east side 

It may be recognised both in the nature of its walls, which are 
very ancient, and in its more elevated situation. Near this place 
we observed the fragments of architectural ornaments, and some 
broken cofumns of the Ionic order. Hard by the acropolis may 
also be seen some ancient caves, as in the vicinity of Athens : in 
all probability, they were the sepulchres, rather than the dwell- 
ings of the earliest inhabitants; they are all lined with stucco. 
There is still an ancient paved road, that conducted to the cita- 
del, by a narrow entrance between rocks, so contrived, as to 
make all who approached the gate pass through a defile that 
might be easily guarded. Within the acropolis are the vestiges 
of buUdings, perhaps the Hieron of Fortuna AcrcBa, and of the 
Dioscuri ; and below it is a fountain seeming to correspond to 
that of Stazusa, mentioned by Pausanias as near the gate. The 
remains of a temple built in a very massive style of structure, 
occur on the western side of the village of Basilico ; and in 
passing the fosse of the citadel, to go towards the theatre, which 
is beyond the acropolis, a subterraneous passage may be ob- 
served, exactly above which the temple seems to have stood ; as 
if by means of this secret duct, persons belonging to the sanc- 
tuary might have ingress and egress to and from the temple, 
without passing the gate of the citadel. This was perhaps the 
identical place called Cosmeterium by Pausanias, whence the 
mystic images were annually brought forth in the solemn pro- 
cession to the temple of Bacchus."* 

In the southern part of the ruins, facing Corinth, there are 
two copious springs, supposed by Mr. Dodwell also to be the 

* Clarke's Travels, vol, vi. (8vo.) pp. 533—41. 



390 MODERN GREECE. 

fountain Stazousa, which was near the gate leading to Corinth, 
though the water no longer drops from the roof of the cave, as in 
the time of Pausanias. Above this spot are the rains of some 
strong modern walls, probably built by the Venetians, as Basi- 
. lico was a place of strength in their time : the castle was con- 
sidered as an important post, and was garrisoned by the Turks 
in 1654. Its final destruction is said to have been occasioned 
by the plague.*' 

Basilico is about three hours N. W. of Corinth, and about an 
hour from the sea, where there is a great tumulus on the shore. 
Between Corinth and SJcyon, Mr. Dodwell passed near filteen 
villages. The extraordinary fertility of the soil and the commo- 
diousness of the situation, he says, have attracted a numerous 
population. An olive-grove extends for a considerable distance j 
and a brook and four rivers are passed in the plain, all issuing 
from the hills on the left.f 

One of these is evidently that which is mentioned by Strabo 
and Livy under the name of Nemea, and which separated the 
Corinthian and Sicyonian territories.! It flows by Nemea, 
whence its course v/as followed by Dr. Clarke, in journeying 
from Nemea to Sicyon. He calls it the Nemeaen rivulet, and 
says, that " it flows in a deep ravine after leaving the plain, and 
then passes between the mountains which separate the Nemeaen 
plain from that of Sicyon." The rocks on either side appeared 
to consist' of a chalky limestone. After riding for about two 
hours along its left bank, he suddenly quitted its course on de- 
scending into the Sicyonian plain, having on the right a tomb and 
ruins. Soon after, he observed, also on the right, a chapel con- 

* "Basilico, or, as some call it, Basilica, when the kingdom of the Morea 
was under the Venetians, was a considerable town : now, it is but a heap of 
ruins, and inhabited only by three families of Turks, and about as many 
Christians. This final destruction, one of the inhabitants told us, happened 
about twenty years ago by the plague : whic h they held to be a judgment of 
God upon the Turks for profaning one of the, Christian churches there, turning 
it into a mosque by command of the vaivode, who fell down dead upon the 
place the first time he caused the Alcoran to be read in it ; whose death was 
followed soon after with such a pestilence as in a short time utterly destroyed 
the whole town, which could never since be repeopled." — Wheeler's Journey, 
b. vi. p. 446. 

t Pausanias merely notices the Asopos as occurring between Sicyon and 
Corinth. Strabo mentions two others, called Cephissos and Oineai. 

i Wheeler, describing his journey from Corimh to Sicyon, says : " We left 
the olive-yards and vineyards on our right hand, which are w atered by the rivu- 
let Ornea, running down from the mountains that bound this plain south and 
south-westwards ; and from thence, I believe, it runs into tlie river JVemeUf 
which we passed about mid-wny by a bridge. This river then was not very con- 
siderable, but, after rains, is (ourcd down from the mountains in such abun- 
dance, that it fills many channels on each side of it which before were dry. 



MODERN GREECE. 391 

taiiiing Ionic capitals and other marble fragments. Within 
thirteen minutes of Sicyon, the road from Corinth crosses the 
Asopus, flowing from the valley of Agios Giorgios and by the 
ruins of Phlius. Over this river, which runs under the eastern 
side of Sicj'on, diere have been two bridges, one of which has a 
fine arch of ancient workmanship and large blocks still standing. 
In Wheeler's time, there were some powder-mills here ; the 
first, he says, he ever saw in Turkey. 

FROM SYCION TO ARGOS. 

In the neighborhood of Sicyon vv^as the town of Titana, seated 
on a mountain, where, in a cypress wood, was a temple of jEscu- 
lapius, containing a statue of the deity, clothed in a tunic of white 
woollen, and another of Hygeia, also robed, and covered with 
votive locks of hair. The place is mentioned by Pausanius as 
being the scene of a very ancient astronomical and religious 
establishment. The real site of the temple. Sir W. Gell con- 
siders to be a peaked mountain above the villages of Paradisos 
and Alopeki, about three hours S. W. of Sicyon, commanding a 
most magnificent view of the Acrocorinthos, the Isthmus, and 
tlie two Gulfs, extending as far as Athens and the promontory 
of Sunium. The summit is now called Agios Elia* The 
peribolus and other traces still remain. About half an hour S. 
of Alopeki, is a ruined Hellenic fortress, small, but curious, 
which, the learned antiquary thinks, may have been the town of 
Titanos. Below this, on a knoll, is a church viith ancient 
blocks. The neighbourhood is much troubled with earthquakes. 
At Alopeki, in 1805, Sir W. Gell experienced one of the most 
alarming nature. 

About three miles further south, in the road from Phonia to 
Afgos, are the ruins of Phlius, one of the places selected by the ' 
Abbe Fourmont for his palaeographical exploits. This city had 
for its territory a fertile plain, about eight miles in length, which, 
according to Stephanus, took its name from its abounding in 
fruii (^Ttaga TO ^Isiry Pausanias tells us, what comes to the 
same thing, that Phlias, son of Bacchus, gave his name to the 



* That is, Saint Elias. It has been remarked, that this name has been given 
to many mountains consecrated to the sun, as if either a mistake for 'HXtos, or 
a sort of play upon the name of the saint, who would seem to have no inherent 
right to these high places. In the present instance, it corresponds to the an- 
cient name nravoS) the mountain of the sun. From Alopeki, Corinth bears S. 
63 E. 



S9S MODERN GREECE. 

country.* Mr. Dodwell says, it is now called Staphlika, but 
Sir W. Gell calls it the valley of Agios Giorgios, from the large 
and populous village of that name, famed for its excellent red 
wine. The exuberant fertility of the vineyards in this district, 
has always been, as at present, the theme of panegyric : it pro- 
duces the best wine in the Peninsula. The Corinth grape, or 
currant (tf-ra^sv/la), the produce of the Phliasian plain, is not cul- 
tivated at Corinth, but took its name from being exported by the 
merchants of that city. The Asopus has its source in this terri- 
tory, which it fertilises with its meandering stream. The ruins 
of the ancient city are described by Sir W. Gell as extending 
half across the plain : he mentions traces of walls and founda- 
tions of two temples. The citadel was on the hill. A fine 
causey crosses the plain to the foot of Mount Agios Basili. In 
the road to Agios Giorgios occur other ancient vestiges; in 
particular, a chapel of Saint Irene, containing fragments of a 
Doric temple and a bridge formed of an ancient architrave. 
The church of St. George has also Doric fragments. From 
this village to Argos, the road passes through as ugly and unin- 
teresting a country, Sir W. Gell says, as can well be imagined. 
The distance is about twelve miles. f 

But we must no longer suffer ourselves to be detained in this 
interesting corner of the Peloponnesus, having yet to explore the 
narrow slip of territory lying between the Gulf of Lepanto and 
the ancient Arcadia and Elis, which formed Achaia Proper. f 
Here, again, we take Mr. Dodwell for our guide, in his route 

FROM SICYON TO PATRAS. 

In the first four hours, proceeding westward from Basilico to 
Kamares, no object of particular interest occurs. The road 
lies near the Gulf, crossing several rivers and brooks that find 

* Its more ancient names were Arantia and Araethyrea. Homer mentions it 
under the latter name. 

t Five hours, according to the Author's Itinerary ; four hours, in his Narrk' 
tive. At 35 min. from Agios Giorgios, having entered a defile, the traveller 
sees on the right, a monastery of the Panagia, in a curious situation on a pre- 
cipice. Within the next 20 minutes, the road crosses some walls which are 
found again in the route from Nemea to Mycenae, and are supposed to mark 
the ancient boundary between the Argian and Phliasian territories. At 2 
hours 40 min. a road turns off to the left, to Phytai, where are ruins, supposed 
to be of the Htrceum, or temple of the Argive Juno. — Itinerary, pp. 160, 171. 

X " Achaia was formerly inhabited by those lonians who are now settled on 
the coast of Asia. They were expelled by the Achaeans, when the latter were 
compelled to yield the kingdoms of Argos and Lacedeemon to the descendants 
of Hercules." — Travels of Anacharsis, ch. 37. 



MODERN GREECE. 393 

their way into it, and, at an hour and a half, passes the rennains of 
a wall running from die hill on the left to the sea, apparently in- 
tended to guard the pass. This, therelore, was probably the 
boundary of the Sicyonian and ^Egiratan territories. Near this 
place are vestiges of an Ionic temple of white mai-ble : the pros- 
pect from tlie ruins is very fine. At the end of about three 
hours, the road crosses a large river near the village of Xilo- 
Kastro, which is seen at the loot of a hill to the left : the sum- 
mit is crowned with the imperfect remains of an acropolis. The 
situation corresponds to that of ^gira, which Polybius describes 
as standing near some abrupt and broken hills, seven stadia from 
the sea, and opposite to Parnassus. In the time of Pausanias, it 
possessed three hiera, a temple (;«o?), and another sacred ed- 
ifice {oLv-VtuaY The Khan of Kamares takes its name lirom the 
remains of some small Roman arches in its vicinity, which ap- 
pear to have belonged to an aqueduct. Near it is a small marsh, 
with a spring of good water. The village of Kamares is nearer 
the coast, about a quarter of an hour distant. On the high 
pointed acclivity above the khan, stands a church called the 
Panagiates Koriiphes. Thus far, the country is described as 
pre-eminently beautiful, — a picturesque succession of hill and 
dale, the hills shattered by earthquakes into the most picturesque 
forms, and luxuriantly raanded with wood, principally the ever- 
green oak. On the right, occasional views are obtained of the 
Gulf, with the grand mountains of Locris, Phocis, and Boeotia on 
the opposite coast. 

An hour and fifty minutes from the khan of Kamares, and 
about a hundred yards to the left of the road, there is an ancient 
monument of a square form, constructed of fine blocks of 
stone, nine layers of which are still remaining. On the top of 
the ruin is the fragment of a bas-relief, consisting of two naked 
feet sculptured in a beautiful style. " This is probably the mon- 
ument which, Pausanias says, was on the right of the road, 
between the river Krathis and ^Egira, on which there was an 
equestrian figure nearly effaced." About an hour further, pro- 
ceeding through some vineyards, olive-groves, and corn fields, 
and crossing a shallow stream in a broad channel, brings the 
traveller to the remains of another mounment, supposed to be 
Roman : the foundation is of small stones and mortar, while the 
superstructure is of large blocks. Twenty-six minutes further, 
a small cape projects into the Gulf, covered with pines and 
bushes, among which are a few ancient vestiges. After crossing 
the broad channel of another stream, and passing through some 
50 



394 MODERN GKEECE. 

more vineyards, olive-grounds, and corn lands, Mr. Dodwell ap- 
proached a place called Mauro-Petra, at the entrance of a nar- 
row pass which had long been a favourite resort of banditti.* A 
hill on the left is crowned with the ruins of a palaio-kastro, sup- 
posed to be the site of the ancient M^<t [Aiyai). Forty nrjin- 
utes further, he crossed, by a bridge of seven arches, a shallow 
but rapid river, called Sakratas or Akrata, a corruption of Kra- 
this, which rises at a village called Zaroukla, eight hours distant, 
in Mount Krathis, and after traversing a fertile plain, falls into the 
Gulf. On its banks is a khan, called the khan of Acrata, where 
Mr. Dodwell passed the night.f 

Soon after quitting the khan the road crosses a stream con- 
veyed by an artificial channel to turn a corn-mill. A fertile and 
richly-cirltivated plain extends beyond, occupied with vineyards 
and currant-plantations, which at length contracts as the moun- 
tains approach the sea, and then the vale again expands. The 
heights are covered with evergreens and shrubs, and as they alter- 
nately recede and approach, the scenery is beautifully varied. 
At the end of about two hours and twenty minutes, the road 
crosses a rapid river by a bridge of one arch ; but when Mr. 
Dodwell passed it, it had become so swollen by the rains as to 
form several branches, which he crossed with difficulty. The 
banks are shaded by impending trees, or obstructed by almost 
impenetrable bushes, which threw down their horses and tore 
their clothes. They deemed themselves, however, fully recom- 
pensed by the singular beauty, and impressive grandeur of the 
scenery. The river, is the Bouraikos, or Kalavryta river which 
flows through the glen of Megaspelia in Arcadia. The chasm 
through which the river is precipitated, is described by Sir. W. 
Gell as perhaps " on6 of the most stupendous scenes in the 
world." The rocks on each side of the glen are for the most 
part perpendicular, rising to a tremendous height, and shattered 
into irregular forms : wherever there is a projection, they are 
fringed with verdure, and crowned with oaks and pines. 

" No part of Achaia," says Mr. Dodwell, " abounds so much 

* Near this place, a Turkish army of 3,000 men was arrested in its progress 
by General Lundo in 1822. See pagfe 131. 

t It is not easy to reconcile Mr. Dodwell's route exactly with that given by 
Sir W. Gell. (Itin. p. 13.) He makes the distance from Acrata to Kamares, 
five hours and a half. At 3 hours and 39 min. from Kamares, he mentions, " a 
rivulet and ruins at Bloubouki; on the r., the woody hill on which stood .ffigira 
above'the road ; on the 1., the ruins of the port or Kevale JEgircE, choked with 
sand : the black posts upon the two piers have occasioned the name of Mauro 
Lithari." Here also is a derveni. This is evidently the Mgce and Mauro 
Pdra of Mr. Dodwell, who places iSgira at Xilo-Kastro. 



MODERN GREECE. 395 

as tliis in enchanting localities and picturesque wilds. The con- 
cussions of earthquakes, to which this coast has always been sub- 
ject, and from which it is not yet free, have tossed the surface 
into a multiplicity of forms, with deep dells and craggy steeps, 
yawning ravines and cloud-capped precipices." After passing 
near a water mill to the left, is seen on a wooded hill, a metochi, 
or farm, belonging to the monastery of Megaspelia. The road 
tlien lies over a plain cultivated with Indian corn, and traversed 
by several rivers, which in the summer are nearly dry, but, on 
tlie melting of the snows on the Arcadian mountams, become 
turbulent torrents, rushing into the Gulf. The broadest of these 
rivers is the Selinos of Pausanias. In the evening, Mr. Dod- 
well reached Vostitza ; distance from the khan of Acrata, five 
hours. 

The town of Vostitza (Bostizza), the representative of the 
ancient jEgium, stands in a fertile plain a little elevated above 
the sea, surrounded with gardens, olive-grounds, vineyards, and 
currant-plantations : corn, cotton, tobacco, and maize, are also 
grown in the neigiibourhood. jEgium was one of the most cel- 
ebrated cities in Greece. It is mentioned by Homer as having 
supplied vessels for the Trojan war, and was for many ages the 
seat of the Achaian Congress. In the second century, it still pos- 
sessed fifteen sacred edifices, a theatre, a portico, and an agora.* 
At tlie time of Mr. Dodwell's visit, it was reduced to " a large 
\dllage," in which the Greeks formed the majority of the popu- 
lation : The Turks had only one mosque. f Scarcely any ves- 
tiges of its edifices were observable, their destruction having 
probably been occasioned chiefly by the violent convulsions of 
nature. Since then, " the greater part of the town of Vostitza 
has been destroyed by a similar catastrophe, and a cape in its 
vicinity, Uke the city of Helice, has been engulfed in the sea, 
and has totally disappeared !" On the beach, overshadov^dng a 
copious fountain, stood a magnificent plane-tree, the trunk of 
which measured 38 feet in girth, and tlie branches spread 60 
feet on each side. The fountain is mentioned by Pausanias. f 

* " The Turks burned -Sgium in 1536, and put the inhabitants to the sword 
or carried them away into slavery" — Chandler. 

t Sir W. Gell states the population at about 2000 : it might therefore claim 
to be called a town, though built in a straggling manner. 

:j: Mr. Dodwell describes the spring as issuing from the ground near the roots 
of the tree, and, after a rippling course of a few yards, entering the gulf. 
Chandler says : " By the plane-tree is a plentiful source of excellent water 
streaming copiously from ten or more mouths of stone, and many transparent 
springsViseon the beach. We were told that an earthquake and a mighty in- 
undation of the sea happened not many years ago ; that the water tlirice 
mounted above this tree and the tall cliff behind it ; that some of the branches 
were torn off by its violence ; and that the people fled to the mountains." 



396 MODERN GREECK. 

There is an ascent from the shore through a subterraneous 
passage cut in the rock. The anchorage of the harbour is not 
safe with a northerly wind. 

In half an hour from Vostizza, the road to Patras passes a . 
river at a ford, (supposed by Mr. Dodwell to be the Phoenix,) 
and, in the course of the next hour, three other streams, one of 
which only is crossed by a bridge. A river now called Soria, 
which rises near the village of Zeria high up in the mountains, 
" may be the Meganitos." After crossing another stream, he 
arrived at a narrow pass, where the mountains approach the 
sea ; and here was a derveni guarded by some dirty Albanians^ 
In two hours and twenty minutes from Vostitza, he came in view 
of a turn of the Gulf where it bends westward, and saw Lepanto 
on the opposite side. In three hours and forty-four minutes, he 
crossed a stream falling from the mountains on the left, and 
forming " a high but thin cascade," (Sir W. Gell terms it a mag- 
nificent one,) perhaps 400 feet high," called Balto Korupho. 
The mountains here rise abruptly from the sea, covered with 
pines and other trees, and the scenery is very fine. Within the 
next half hour. Sir W. Gell mentions two ancient ports now con- 
certed into lakes, each having near it a tumulus and some ancient 
blocks. The low promontory of Drepanum (still bearing that 
name) commences after passing the second. Immediately op- 
posite to Lepanto is a tumulus, so large as to appear like a natu- 
ral mound, with broken tiles near it. From an eminence, about 
an hour from Balto Korupho, Mr. Dodwell obtained a magnifi- 
cent view of this part of the Gulf. "We looked down," he 
says " upon the entrance of the Gulf, which is between the pro- 
montories of Rhion and Antirrhion, on which are respectively 
situated the castles of Morea and Romelia. The former bears* 
N. 88° W. ; the latter, N. 70° W. ; and the intermediate space 
is certainly much more considerable than it was computed by 
the ancients. These promontories are denominated by Livy, 
' the jaws of the Corinthian Gulf.' We discovered the project- 
ing coast from the Araxian promontory, and, in the faint distance, 
the islands of Cephalonia, Ithaca, and the Echinades. with the 
jEtolian shore near Mesaloggion (Missolonghi) . These soft dis- 
tances are well contrasted with the rugged and frowning preci- 
pices of Chilcis and Taphiassos, presenting their craggy sides to 
the open sea, and uniting with the lofty chains of Rhegana and 
Loidoriki, as they branch out from Pindus and (Eta. The town 
of Nepaktos (Lepanto) is seen on the Locrian coast in a direc- 
tion of N. 6° E. ', and the sickle-formed cape of Drepanon pro- 
jects in a thin line from the Achaian shore." 



MODERN GREECE. 397 

The road passes within a mile of the castle of the Movea, and 
then lies over a level country in a S.W. direction, crossing three 
" insignificant streams," called by Pausanias the Bolinaios, the 
Selemnos, and the Charadros, and, where the plain is about two 
miles wide, the Meilichos, now called Melikoukia. Beyond this 
river, the hills called Skata Bouna approach the road, and the 
cultivation of Patras begins. The distance from Vostizza to Pa- 
tras is eight hours and a quarter, or twenty-five computed miles.* 
The total distance from Patras to Corinth by Sicyon, is accord- 
ing to Mr. Dodwell, thirty-three hours. Sir W. Gell makes it 
only twenty-six hours, or seventy-six computed miles. Before 
we describe this important place, the emporium of the Morea, we 
shall trace another route taken by Mr. Dodwell, leading through 
the heart of the Peninsula. 



FROM TRIPOLITZA TO PATRAS. 

The road from Tripolitza to Kalabryta has already been 
traced as far as Kalpaki in the plain of Orchomenos.f From 
this place, Mr. Dodwell proceeded in a north-easterly direction 
towards Stymphalus or Zaraka. On descending into the plain, 
where the traces of Orchomenos end, he crosses a copious 
stream called Sosteno, which rises near the deserted village of 
Nudimo (or Nudines), three hours distant, and in thirty-seven 
minutes from Kalpaki, came to a fine kephalo hrusi, rushing in 
seven clear streams out of the rocks at the foot of the Kokino 
Bouno (the red mountain), which rises close to the traveller's 
right. These soon collect into a single stream, which, after a 
course of a few hundred yards, enters the lake of Orcheme- 
nos, of vi^hich it forms the principal supply. Half an hour 
from this source, Mr. Dodwell noticed a tumulus to the left, 
crossed a rivulet, running towards the lake, and came to some 
traces of an ancient paved way. In an hour and a quarter, he 
reached the extremity of the plain, and observed the monastery of 
Kandelas conspicuously perched upon a high rock. A few minutes 
more brought him to the jnetochi of the monastery, a short way 
beyond which, is the scattered and deserted town of Kandelas 
(or Kandyla.) All the principal inhabitants, unable to support the 
vexatious extortions of the Pasha of the Morea, had, a few years 

•* Sir W. Gell mentions, at two hours fifty-five minutes from Vostitza, a 
khan called the khan of Lampiri, prettily situated at the foot of the chain of 
Mount Voidia, the ancient Panachaikos. 

t See page 287. 



398 MODERN GREECE. 

before, emigrated to the coast of Anatolia, After passing some 
mills turned by a rivulet running towards the lake of Orchome- 
nos, the road begins to ascend the precipitous sides of a moun- 
tain, (supposed to be the ancient Oligyrtos,) winding along the 
edge of precipices in a zig-zag direction. This road, Mr. Dod- 
well says, is not difficult in summer, but, at the time he traversed 
it (March 12), it was completely encrusted with snow to a great 
depth : no beaten track, consequently, was visible, and at almost 
every step, the party were in danger of falling down the preci- 
pices ; " nor do I recollect," he adds, " ever to have been in a 
more perilous situation." The guides whom he had hired at 
Kalpaki, when they saw the depth of the snow, obstinately re- 
fused to proceed, till the Tartar who accompanied Mr. Dodwell 
had recourse to the common Turkish persuasive, the " argumen- 
tum haculinum.''^ It took an hour and ten minutes to reach the 
summit of the pass, and an hour and twenty minutes more, to 
descend by a difficult path to the long flat plain at the foot of the 
mountain, in which stands the village of Skotini near the conflu- 
ence of two streams. The plain was cultivated with corn. An 
hour and a quarter from this village, are vestiges of walls com- 
posed of large rough stones, at the foot of some rocky hills to 
the left, on which there appears to have been an acropolis. 
"This place exhibits indications of great antiquity, and may be the 
site of the town of Alea."* The road then lies over some rocky 
elevations, and, in twenty-five minutes, brings the traveller in sight 
of the Lake of Stymphalus (now Zaraka), which, though not of 
considerable dimensions, is very grand and picturesque, being 
surrounded with mountains of a bold outline and magnificent as- 
pect. The route now falls into an ancient paved way, running 

* This can harcUy be the same spot that Sir W. Gell refers to in his journey 
from Phonia to Argos. He describes the road to Agios Giorgios as ascending 
from the valley of Stymphalus between two hills, and then descending into " a 
little hollow," where he found the ruins of a town, which he took for the an- 
cient Alea. A dreary and uncultivated tract succeeded, and after proceeding 
some way, he observed " a very large and most singular tumulus, encircled 
with a wall of huge stones. The mass had been cut into two equal semicircu- 
lar portions by an excavation, by which other stones were exposed. The 
learned Traveller concludes that this must be the tomb of ^pytus, the father 
of Aleus,the founder of Alea, which is thus mentioned by Pausanias. " This 
sepulchre I examined very particularly, because. Homer mentions it : 
(" Where, under high Cyllene crowned with wood, 
The shaded tomb of old iEpytus stood." — Iliad, b. ii.) 
it is a mound of earth not very large, surrounded with a circular wall of stone. 
Homer admired it only because he had never seen a more magnificent monu- 
ment." Half an hour further, through " a frightfully ugly and dreary coun- 
try," brought the Traveller within view of the village of Agios Giorgios, and a 
steep zig-zag path led into the Phliasian plain. — Narrative, pp. 384 — 6. 



MODERN GREECE. 399 

along the "southeastern extremity of tlie lake. After crossing 
two branches of a stream which rises two hours to the north, at 
the village of Dusio (or Dugio), and here enters the lake, the 
traveller arrives at the miserable village of Zaraka, seven hours 
from Kalpaki. Here, the power of the black aga of the village 
was in vain exerted to procure for the milordos wine and provi- 
sions : the villagers were furnished with scarcely any thing hut 
" ripe olives, pungent cheese, and gritty bread." 

The remains of the ancient city of Stymphalus,* are about 
an hour W.S.W. of Zaraka, on a rocky eminence rising from 
the north-eastern side of the lake. They are thus described by 
Mr. Dodwell. 

" The first ruin we reached, appeared to be the remains of a 
temple, consisting of a quantity of blocks which constituted 
the cella. We also observed some fluted frusta of the Doric 
order, three feet in diameter. Several other traces are dispersed 
in all directions. At the distance of ten minutes from this place, 
the fountain of Stymphalos, which at present is known by the 
usual denomination of Kephalo-Brusi, gushes with turbulent ve- 
hemence from the rock, and forms a copious stream. This is 
tlie river Stymphalos, which, after a short and rippling course, 
enters the lake, which it traverses, and falls hito the chasm, or 
Jzatabathron ; from whence finding its way in a subterraneous 
channel, it re-appears near Argos, forming the source of the river 
Erasinos, which enters the Agolic Gulf near the Lernsean marsh. 
This physical curiosity is noticed by many ancient authors ; par- 
ticularly by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and Pausa- 
nias. The length of its subterraneous course was supposed to 
be 200 stadia. 

" We proceeded for a short space along the foot of the moun- 
tain, by the ancient way, which is paved with large square blocks 
of stone, unlike the roads of the Romans, which are composed 
of irregular polygons. f We soon came to the remains of a temple, 

* " From Stymphalus the bright Metopa came, 
Mother of warlike Thebes, whose silver spring 

I drink." West's Pindar, olymp. vi. strophe 5. 

" And Stymphelus with her surrounding grove." 

Pope's Iliad, h. ii. 
t This magniticent causey, worthy of Hercules, and which, like that of Pho- 
nia, wasdecorated with parapets of hewn stone, not only aflforded an excellent 
road, but " confined the lake to a certain degree; besides raising the whole 
level of the marsh, by arresting the deposite washed by rivulets from the moun- 
tain. About midway is a canal, running rapidly in a direct and artificial 
course." (Gell's JVar. p. 381.) This is said to have been formed by Hercules 
to carry off the superfluous waters of tlie Aroanios, and to protect the country 
from the calamitous effects of inundation. A part of the river seems to flow 
in its natural channel ; but a great part, Mr. Dodwell says, is evidently direct- 
ed to the lake by the canal. 



400 MODERN GREECE. 

consisting of a considerable quantity of Doric frusta, and some pi- 
lasters or anta, both fluted, and some large blocks of marble and 
stone. The columns are of moderate proportions ; the larger 
measure three feet in diameter, and the smaller only eighteen 
inches. The place is called Kionea, the Columns. The di- 
lapidated Catholicon or episcopal church, which has- evidently 
been a handsome edifice, is close to this temple, and is composed 
of ancient remains. A few hundred yards from the Catholicon, 
w;e came to the ancient walls of Styraphalos, which were forti- 
fied with square towers, and constructed in the second style of 
masonry, with large polygon stones. Nearer the lake, the brow 
of an impending eminence is characterised by the ruins of 
another temple, the lower part of the cella of which is still visi- 
ble. This whole side of the lake appears to have been covered 
with buildings belonging to the town, which was of a long and 
narrow form, adapted to the nature of the spot on which it stood. 
The mountain which rises above the ruins is part of the great 
Mount Cyllene, the loftiest in Arcadia."* 

Pausanias asserts, that the lake, which is always small, is quite 
dry in summer ; but this, Mr. Dodwell was assured, never oc- 
curs, though it is then very much reduced in extent. In fact, the 
fish called kephales are said to abound in it. Sir W. Gell no- 
ticed numerous flocks of wild-fowl, near the katabathron, " ap- 
parently attracted by the floating of every swimming object to a 
common centre, waiting for their prey." Having ascended to 
the top of a precipice, he looked down upon the fearful chasm. 
" A sort of imposing stillness, he says, " rendered more terrible 
the sight of what appeared an unfathomable abyss, drawing to 
itself, in treacherous silence, every floating object, till it became 
insensibly and irrevocably lost in the dark and tremendous gulf 
below. The water had all the appearance of immense depth, 
so that, though perfectly transparent, and seen from a considera- 
ble elevation, no signs of the bottom were visible. The natives 
believe that the cones of fir-trees, having been thrown in consid- 
erable numbers into the water here, have really re-appeared at 
the fountain-head of the Erasinus." An unfortunate bather is 
is said to have disappeared at this spot, but the body would 
seem not to have been seen again. On the other side of the 
water, near Zaraka, Sir W. Gell noticed arches of the aqueduct 
erected by Hadrian to convey water to Corinth.* 

The route to Phonia lies along the north-eastern side of the 
lake, through the ruins of Stymphalus, and then continues on 

* Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 433. * See page 365. 



MODERN GREECE. 401 

the side of a steep precipice rising from the water, bearing the 
traces of wheels in the ancient road iiewn in the rock. Li less 
than an hour, the traveller reaches the north-western extremity 
of the lake, which, at that end, is enclosed by an ancient wall to 
protect the adjacent plain from its inundations. Three quarters 
of an hour further, he crosses a river which turns some mills in 
its way to the lake ; and soon after, begins to ascend the moun- 
tainous ridge of Geronteion, which separates the plains of Stym- 
phalus and Pheneos. Here there is a khan, called Moura. 
The village of Kastania is left on the right. On a rocky hill to 
the right are seen numerous caves, probably sepulchral. From 
the top of the pass, after an ascent of forty minutes, the Corin- 
thian Gulf is visible toward the east, while, on the west, the plain 
of Pheneos presents a surface of fine verdure and great extent, 
its little lake being scarcely visible at its northern extremity. 
The road runs along the rocky sides of the mountains Vv'hich 
rise majestically on the north-eastern side of the plain, and which 
are enlivened with villages and trees. After a long' descent, 
leading through some villages, the traveller crosses, in the plain, 
the river Olbios, or Aroanios, (now called Tranopotamo, the 
Great River,) and passing through a large kalybia, called Mo- 
shea, in fifty minutes from the river, arrives at the populous vil- 
lage of Phonia, situated on the side of a picturesque and wooded 
mountain above the ruins of the ancient Pheneos : distance from 
Zaraka, four hours and seventeen minutes, and consequently 
eleven hours and a half from Kalpaki. 

The direct route to Phonia, which was taken by Sip W. Gell, 
is not half the distance. About an hour from Kalpaki, the roads 
divide, that to Zaraka bending to the right, while that to Phonia 
turns to the left, and in about eight minutes begins to ascend a 
chasm or bushy glen, apparently referred to by Paasanias as the 
passage of the rocks of Caphya. On the right, is the monastery 
of Agia Triada (the Holy Trinity.) The pass, which is very 
rugged and difficult, has been fortified.* In forty minutes, on 
reaching the summit, the road issues from the glen, having a 
small lake on the left ; it then traverses another summit, and in 
twenty-five minutes more, begins to descend the northern side 
of the mountain by a narrow chasm walled in by lofty precipices 
on each side, and darkened by overhanging trees, the effect of 
which is at once singularly gloomy and magnificent. The eleva- 



* This appears to be the pass occupied by Demetrius Ypsilanti in 1825, 
where he was enabled effectually to bar the further progress of Ibrahim Pasha 
jn his attempt to open a communication with Patras. See page 178. 

51 



402 MODERN GREECE. 

tion, and a partial thaw produced by the morning sun, added to 
the cold and dampness of the situation ; and the oaks were 
covered with long, shaggy coats of green moss, in a manner 
quite uncommon in these latitudes. After a terrible rocky de- 
scent through a wood of ilex, our Traveller passed a cave called 
Ghiosa (or Geousa), from the roof of which hung the first icicles 
he had seen in Greece. On the rocks above were pines ; and 
with the oaks in the glen were intermixed birches and other 
productions of a northern climate. Phonia is now seen, bearing 
due north, at the further extremity of another plain, backed by 
another range of lofty mountains. In a quarter of an hour 
further, the road passes a church, under which a beautiful source 
gushes out from a rock, forming a river at once ; and soon after 
is seen the village Ghiosa, near the ancient Carya. Near the 
road. Sir W. Gell observed a chair cut in the rock. In another 
quarter of an hour, he reached the bottom of the descent, 
" whicli, in the summer, can scarcely have any equal for pic- 
turesque beauty, with all that rocks, trees, and headlong torrents 
can produce." The river here, running to the right, is quickly 
swallowed up in a katabathron at the foot of Mount Sciathis.* 
In three quarters of an hour further, the road enters upon a mag- 
nificent causey, formed with immense labour, which, Pausanias 
says, was thirty feet high, and which appears to have been origi- 
nally bordered with a stone parapet. The plain on the right is 
cultivated, and is terminated by the immense mass of Zyria, the 
Cyllene of the ancients, reputed the highest mountain in the Mo- 
rea. On the left, the mountains anciently called Orexis recede, 
leaving space for a fine lake, the waters of which are supplied 
by the river, and passing by a katabathron to Lykourio, there 
form the source of the river Ladon. On the rocks to the left, 
are very visible the traces of the water-mark mentioned by Pau- 
sanias as a proof of that elevation of the waters of the lake which 
destroyed Pheneos. The lower parts of the mountains, for 
some hundred feet above the plain, are of a much lighter colour 
than the upper parts, and a yellow border is carried along their 
bases round the whole circle of the plain. It is evident, how- 
ever, that a temporary inundation could not have produced so 
striking a difference in the surface of the rock, and the pheno- 
menon demands the attention of the naturalist. If the rock 
itself is of the same composition throughout the whole elevation, 

* " The Icatabathron receives the Aroanios at the foot of a steep and rocky 
mountain railed Kokino Bouno, the Red Mountain. It is disgorged after a 
subterraneous course of a few miles, and forms the Ladon." — Dodwell. 



MODERN GREECE. 403 

the lighter part will probably be found to derive its colour from 
a concrete deposite, the effect either of the waters having, in a 
remote age, occupied die whole plain, before they opened for 
themselves a subterraneous channel, or else of the action of the 
rains. 

In three quarters of an hour after entering upon the causey, 
Sir VV. Gell arrived at the ford of the Tranopomo, the embank- 
ments of which, together with the magnificent road, form one of 
the achievements attributed to that most useful personage, Her- 
cules, during his residence at Pheneos. A bridge here, our 
Traveller remarks, would have made his work perfect. After 
passing the river, leaving on the left a monastery near some an- 
cient quarries, he ascended to Phonia, after a journey of five 
hours and a half.* 

Phonia, says Sir William Gell, " was originally a kalyhea or 
summer residence, and consisted of huts ; it retained that appel- 
lation to a late period, but is now become a town reputed to con- 
tain a thousand houses, and consequently a population of be- 
tween four and five thousand souls. The houses are prettily 
interspersed with trees, from which I conjecture that the site 
was formerly a wood. Every house seemed to have its litde 
garden ; and the place altogether was rather flourishing, for the 
Morea. The Phonia or Pheneos of histoiy was evidently placed 
upon an insulated hill, south-east of the modern town, where the 
ruins of the whole circuit of the wall are visible." The rest of 
the ruins consist of scattered blocks and confused heaps ; but it 
is probable that interesting objects might be discovered here. 
Pheneos was one of the most ancient cities in Greece. f Mer- 
cury was the particular object of worship here : he had a tem- 
ple consecrated to him, and was honoured with games called 
Hermaia.\ Bacchus and Proserpine are jalso seen on the coins 
of Pheneus j and the bull, the sheep, and the horse, which are 

* Total distance from Tripolitza, 10 hours, 56 min., or 3i computed miles. 
Yet, " by an observation of the sun," Sir W. Gell found that he had advanced, 
in his two days' jpurney, only 21 miles north from Tripolitza. 

+ Oi $£V£ov r' iVijiovTO Kai 'Op)(^ojjLevov iroXvjiriXov' 
" The Phenean fields and Orchomenian downs." 

Iliad, b. ii. 605. 
^ % The precise origin of these games does not appear, but they were probably 
connected with the legend referred to by the coins of Pheneos, in which Mer- 
cury is seen with the child Arkas in his arms : inscription, <I>£V£(ov-Ap/(;aj. Arkas 
was the son of Jupiter by Callisto, daughter of Lycaon. When ihe mother 
was transformed into a bear and killed by Diana, the infant was saved by 
Mercury. So the story is told by Pausanias. It is probnble that, like the Ne- 
mean and Isthmian Games, the Hf ri/is^an were originaih funereal ; and it is 
singular that, in each instance, an infant should be tlie principal object of reli- 
gious honour. 



404 MODERN GREECE. 

represented on them, may be supposed to allude to the rich pas- 
turage of the Phenean territory, which, we are told by Pausanias 
was preferred by Ulysses for his horses to any other. The head 
of Proserpine has a reference to the legend connected with the 
katabathron, where, according to some authorities, Pluto is said 
to have opened himself a passage to his infernal palace, when he 
carried off the daughter of Ceres. A less classical version of 
this tradition is current among the people of Phonia. One of 
their kings is said to have engaged in an unequal conflict, at this 
place, with the Prince of Darkness, whose only offensive wea- 
pons were balls of grease. On being struck with one of these, 
the unfortunate Phonian caught fire,, and was hurried with impet- 
uous velocity through the mountain, leaving behind him the per- 
foration which .became the outlet of the lake. The waters of 
Pheneos, as well as those of the neighbouring Styx, were an- 
ciently supposed to possess peculiar properties, ^lian states, 
that the lake contained no fish ; and Ovid pretends, that while its 
water might be drunk with impunity by day, it was pernicious at 
night.* The Abbe Fourmont makes it out to resemble the 
Asphaltic Lake in its bituminous odours ; but neither Mr. Dod- 
well nor Sir W. Gell appears to h&ve perceived any such phe- 
nomenon. 

On a very steep and lofty peak of the mountain above the 
modern village, there are remains of a palaio-hastro, probably of 
high antiquity, but not otherwise interesting. The way to it is 
by a mere goat-track, through a wooded and picturesque tract of 
country. It took Mr. Dodwell forty minutes to reach the foot of 
the conical rock on which the ruins are situated, and another hour 
to ascend by a very steep and circuitous winding path to the flat 
circular area on the summit. Here, they found remains of walls 
composed of a thick mass of small unhewn stones without mor- 
tar, but having nothing characteristic in their construction. A 
few ancient tiles were seen scattered about the ruins, but not a 
single block of hewn stone could be found. Other similar re- 
mains occur in the mountainous parts of Greece, and these may 
possibly, Mr. Dodwell suggests, be of very early date, — the 
xcofioTiolsis or walled villages of the ancients. The view from 
the rock embraced only a mass of mountains with wild glens 
and rugged indentations ; a deep solitude, where the voice of 
man is not heard, nor are any signs of human habitation visible. 

The route pursued by the learned Traveller now led in a 
south-westerly direction across the plain, having the lake on the 

* Metam. xv. 332. 



MODERN GREECE. 405 

left, and leaving on the right a monastery at the foot of the moun- 
tain. In an hour and a quarter, he arrived near the confines of 
tlie lake, the banks of which were then inaccessible from the 
swamps which formed its border. On quitting the lake, the 
road begins to ascend through a forest of scattered firs, and in 
half an hour, attains the summit of the ridge which constitutes 
the line of division between the modern jurisdictions of Corinth 
and Kalabryta. On descending by a steep road into the plain, 
the straggling village of Lykourio is seen on the right, in a valley 
which- exhibits signs of cultivation, environed with lofty hills. In 
two hours from the lake, Mr. Dodwell reached a very abundant 
kephalohrusi, which immediately forms a fine rapid river. This 
spring is the outlet of the subterraneous waters of the river and 
lake of Phonia, and the stream is the Ladon, which, after a cir- 
cuitous and rapid course through Arcadia, joins the Alpheus. On 
quitting the source, the road makes a turn to the north, passing 
under a magnificent precipice on the right, and after crossing 
two streams, leads, in two and twenty minutes, to the kalyhia of 
Mazi, situated on a gentle elevation overlooking the plain of 
Kleitor. Near the village are some remains of a small Doric 
temple. 

The ruins of Kleitor (or Clitorium), which are about twenty 
minutes from the kalyhia (where the Author passed the night), 
" are situated in a ferdle plain, surrounded by some of the high- 
est mountains in Arcadia, at the northern extremity of which 
Chelmos rises in conspicuous grandeur. This mountain is inter- 
spersed with sylvan scenery, where fine masses of rock peer out 
amid the united foliage of the pine, the plane-tree, the ilex, and 
the oak, its grand outline terminating in a pointed summit of 
great height. Most of the walls of Kleitor may be traced, 
though litde of them remains above ground. They inclose an 
irregular oblong space, and were fordfied widi circular towers. 
The style of construction is nearly equilateral, which gives them 
an appearance of great solidity ; their general thickness is fifteen 
feet. Here are remains of a small Doric temple with fluted 
anta, and colunms with capitals of a singular form. Beyond 
the walls of the city, on the side towards the kalyhia, the 
ground is covered with sepulchres of the hypogaia kind, similar 
to those at the Piraeus : they might be opened with little trouble 
and expense." 

Kleitor took its name from its supposed founder, the grandson 
of Ai^kas, and one of the most powerful kings of his time, who 
generally resided at Lycosura. " The history of this little state 
is enveloped in obscurity, and not much more is known of it. 



406 MODERN GREECE. ' 

than that it was sequestered in the heart of Arcadia, and exclu- 
ded as it were, by its mountainous inclosure, from the other 
states of Greece." Kleilor was so strong a post as to be able 
to resist, on one occasion, the attempt of an jEtolian array to 
carry it by storm. In the 148th Olympiad, the Achaean council 
was held in this city, in the presence of the Roman legates.* Its 
principal temples were those of Ceres, of jEsculapius, and of 
Diana Eileithuia. It was most celebrated for its fountain, to the 
water of which was ascribed the very admirable property of pro- 
ducing in those who drank it, a distaste for wine ever after, and 
even a dislike of its smell. f Mr. Dodwell found it pure and 
limpid, but was unable to detect any of its extraordinary qualities. 

This is the source of the river Kleitor, which, rising near the 
ruins, ripples in a meandering current through the plain, and, 
after a course of less than a mile, enters the Aroanios. Its banks 
are in some places shaded with trees, and it has much of th^ 
character of an English trout-stream. 

A species of fish in this river is gravely reported by Pausanias 
to have had the singular power of singing like a thrush ; but, 
though he saw them when caught, he was never iortunate 
enough to hear them sing. Mr. Dodwell learned from a fisher- 
man who had just been successful in catching some trout of a 
fine bright colour beautifully variegated, that the river abounds 
most in this species of fish : that it is seldom taken of more than 
a pound and a half in weight; and that it forms a considerable ob- 
ject of traffic with the neighbouring villages, especially in fast-time, 
for which period they are salted and smoked. The learned 
traveller supposes this fish to be the TiaxtXla of Pausanias, and 
that name to have been given to the trout from its spotted and 
many-coloured scales. J Pliny, however, states, that this vocal 
fish was denominated exoccetus, because it used to go upon the 
land to sleep ; that it was peculiar to the vicinity of Clitorium ; 
that it had no fins ; and that it was sometimes called Adonis. § 
It seems more reasonable to reject the whole as a fable, than to 
suppose that a fish so well known as the trout should be invested 
with such marvellous attributes. Ridiculous as the whole story 
sounds, it appears to have gained such general credence, that 



* Polybius in Dodwell. 

i " Clitoric quicunquesitimdefonteleriarit, 

Vina ugit, gaudetque meris obsteniius undis." 

Ovid. Meiam. xv. 323. 
t The modern name for tront, Mr. Dodwell sajis, is TreareoXa, or marpo^Tr. 
§ Possibly corrupted from a^xov, from auBo), to sing-. 



MODERN GREECE. 407 

one can scarcely avoid supposing that it may have originated in 
some unexplained phenomenon.* 

Pursuing iiis route in a northerly direction, Mr. Dodwell 
passed by a copious stream called the river of Katsanes, which 
descends from Mount Chelmos ; it is shaded with plane-tiees, 
and bounded by fine precipices. Wliere the vale contracts into 
a glen, he crossed another stream, and soon began to ascend to 
the elevated plain of Suthena, near the further end of which are 
obscure ti'aces of the cella of a temple, supposed to be the site 
of the temple of Diana, which was between Kleitor and Cynse- 
tlia. The road then becomes, for thirty-five minutes, a steep 
ascent to the summit of a pass, and in forty minutes more, leads 
down to a plain, in wliich is an insulated rock surmounted with 
ruined walls, composed of small stones, called Palaio Kalabryta. 
The ruins appeared to Mr. Dodwell modern : Sir W. Gell sup- 
poses that the site may be that of Cynsetha. The monastery of 
!MegaspeIia is visible from this point at the extremity of a deep, 
uneven valley. A quarter of an hour further brings the traveller 
to the modern town of Kalabryta, situated in a deep valley. 
This is the head-town of the district, and the seat of a voivode, 
but it appears to have nothing to recommend it to attention. Its 
scanty remains, Mr. Dodwell says, have an ambiguous charac- 
ter : he passed through it, however, very hastily. It appears to 
be the representative of the ancient Cynsetha, although it may 
be questioned whether it occupies the same situation. It is men- 
tioned as a town in the year 1450. M. Pouqueville gives the 
following account of the place. 

" Calavrita is a town surrounded with mountains, and contains 
about 300 houses, but it does not appear to occupy the place of 
any town or village mentioned in antiquity. It is governed by 
a Turkish aga, and defended by a paltry kind of castle built of 
wood, with a palisade. There is a wretched khan, destined for 
the reception of travellers. In time of war, a military guard is 
stationed here by the Pasha of the Morea : the possession of this 
point is essential for securing the command of the defiles over all 
this part of the province. The greater part of the inhabitants 
are Albanians, the remains of those who invaded the Morea in 
1770. The environs of the town are pleasant, notwithstanding 

* A remarkable account is given by Lieut. Wliite, of a species of musical 
fish found in the Saigon river, which would seem to render it not absolutely- 
incredible, that a fish might be endued, not indeed with voice, but with sonor- 
ific powers by means of spasmodic action, like the insect race of vocalists. 
If any sounds were emitted by the poikilia, the marvel would easily be 
heightened into their resembling the song of a thrush. See Mod. Trav., 
Mrmah, fcc. p. 834. 



408 MODERN GREECE. 

the rugged nature of the country. There are many delicious 
fountains, planted with orange and lemon-trees, besides abun- 
dance of mulberry-trees, cultivated for feeding the silk-worms, 
considerable numlaers of which are bred here. In this place as 
well as at Vostitza, large quantities are also made of the hard 
cheese used for scraping upon macaroni and other Italian pastes ; 
dishes which are held in particular esteem among the great peo- 
ple of the country. It is well known how much the cheeses of 
Achaia and Sicyonia were sought after in ancient times by the 
Athenians. It should seem that they have undergone no change ; 
that they preserve the same form, and have the same solidity."* 

The ancient Cynaethans bore a very indifferent character, 
being esteemed an unprincipled, uncivilised, and cruel race, the 
very reverse of their generous neighbours, the Kletorians. For 
this remarkable difference, Polybius very satifactorily accounts : 
they were the only people in Arcadia who did not cultivate mu- 
sic ! The present race would seem to bear a family resemblance 
to their predecessors. Mr. Dodwell describes the people of 
Suthena as a savage-looking people, many of them being robbers 
by profession ; and those of Kalabryta were, apparently, little 
better. The monks of Megaspelia were loath to believe that a 
single Frank should venture to travel in such a country, at a late 
hour, attended only by Turks. The insecurity of their situation, 
and the lawless distraction of the country, compelled them to 
take every possible precaution to prevent surprise and spoliation ; 
so that our Traveller, arriving after the gates were shut, with 
difficulty obtained admission.-j- 

The country between Kalabryta and Megaspelia is romantical- 
ly wild and grand. On leaving the town, Mr. Dodwell traversed 
part of tlie plain of Kalabryta, and entering a gorge of precipi- 
tous mountains, descended to a winding glen with a rapid river 
flowing through the midst, while perpendicular rocks rise above 
in every fantastic variety of form. This river is the Bouraikos, 
here called Hozafiog ztov KaXaSgVTCov^ the river of Kalabryta, 
which, after winding through craggy hollows and dark glens, and 
washing the foot of the rock on which the town of Boura stood, 
crosses the road from Basilico to Patras, and falls into the Co- 
thian Gulf about seven miles S.E. of Bostitza. In two hours 



* Pouquevillc's Travels, p. 48. 

t A quarter of an hour elapsed after they had consented to admit the Trav- 
eller, before the door was opened ; he then had to enter by a long passag-e 
between a double line of monks, all of whom, he afterwards, found, had arras 
e&ncealed under their ample robes. 



MODERN GREECE. 409 

from Kalabryta, he reached the monastery of Megaspelia,* — 
the largest establisliment of the kind in the Morea, and one of 
the most singular edifices in the world. Seen by moonlight, Mr. 
Dodwell says, it had a most extraordinary appearance : that 
which it presented the next morning, is thus described. 

" The monastery is erected upon a steep and narrow ridge, 
and against the mouth of a natural cavern. f Indeed, most of 
the interior of the edifice is within the cave itself, or projects but 
little beyond. It is a large white building, of a picturesque and 
irregular form, consisting of eight stories with twenty-three win- 
dows in front ; it faces the west. A magnificent precipice, four 
or five hundred feet in height, rises from the cave, and overhangs 
the monastery in such a manner, that when the Arnauts, who 
ravaged great part of the Morea, found it impossible to take the 
monastery in front, on account of the narrow and defensible 
passes, they attempted to roll down upon it large masses of stone 
from the precipice above ; but they all fell beyond the walls of 
the consecrated edifice. J The monks, of course, were not 
backward in ascribing this circumstance to a miracle. The gar- 
den of the convent is in front of it, on a rapid slope supported by 
terrace-walls, and approached by zig-zag paths. Some cypresses 
add greatly to its picturesque effect. When I requested per- 
mission to inspect the church, the monks seemed more desirous 
of shewing their cellar, which is indeed one of the finest in the 
world. It occupies the greater part of the ground-floor, and was 
filled with large casks containing better wine than that usually found 
in the Morea ; it is, moreover, always cool. The church is in- 
crusted with ancient marbles, embellished with gilding, and 
sanctified with the paintings of the Panagia and saints. It is illu- 
minated with silver lamps, but badly lighted from without. 

" Megaspelia owes its foundation or completion to the Greek 
emperors, John Cantacuzene, and Andronicus and Constantine 
Palaeologus. It supports about 450 monks, most of whom are 
dispersed about the country, and engaged in superintending the 
metochia and cultivating the land.§ Its currant-plantations are 
considerable, and produce 80,000 lb. weight annually. It is a 

* Two hours anJ a half, according- to Sir W. Gell (Itin. p. 131) ; and the 
last half hour, from the bridge below the monastery, is stated to be " a terrible 
ascent." 

t Hence its name, Msya YTrri'Xaiov, the Great Cave. 

I They endeavoured in vain to throw down a great fragment of rock appa- 
rently poised on the verge of the precipice. 

§ The vines, on account of the coldness of the situation, are cut down in 
winter and covered with earth. The monastery itself is damp, and the inmates 
are subject to rheumatism. 

52 



410 MODERN eREECE, 

pa6i.Xt%a fiovadzrigia (royal monastery), and enjoys great privi- 
leges. The hegourmnos (abbot) is elected yearly ; but the same 
individual is frequently re-elected, if his conduct has been ap- 
proved. When they cease to hold that place, they are denomi- 
nated TigoTjyovfxevoi* and are more respected than the other 
monks. The palladium of this monastery is an image of the 
Virgin, said to have been made by St. Luke. This attracts the 
visits of pilgrims, and brings in a great addition to the revenue of 
the establishment." 

Tlie monks are believed to possess a charter from one of the 
Constantines, and some books, but are represented by Sir W. 
Gell as unwilling to shev(7 either. Above the gate are some re- 
mains of building, of the time of the Greek emperors. " From 
the entrance, an inclined pavement extends to a sort of portico, 
between which and the church are two new and handsome brass 
doors. The pavement of the church is mosaic. The refectory 
is large, and its table clean. The monks distribute an engraving 
of the place, surrounded with little pictures of the miracles 
wrought there. They are hospitable to strangers, and have a 
separate house for their Turkish visiters." 

Such is the account given of this singular establishment as it 
existed in 1806. What part its monks have taken in the turbu- 
lent events of the past six years, and how far the establishment 
itself has suffered from the effects of the Revolution, we are not 
informed. The standard of independence was first raised in the 
Morea by Germanos, archbishop of Patras, in the neighbourhood 
of Kalabryta ; and it may be presumed that the monks of Me- 
gaspelia were not backward in obeying the summons and in 
affording their holy aid to the insurgents. f Next to that of Me- 
gaspelia, the largest monastery in the Morea is that of TaxiarcJii, 
which is also a royal foundation, about an hour and a half from 
Vostitza, towards the mountains. 

The distance of Megaspelia from Vostitza is computed to be 
fifteen miles (5 hours 40 min.) The road first descends to the 
bridge below the monastery ; in ten minutes, crosses another 
with a pretty mill ; and after a very steep ascent of thirty-five 
minutes towards Mount Phteri, a third. It then leads to a sum- 
mit commanding a magnificent view of the Gulf of Lepanto, with 
Parnassus, Helicon, and Pindus beyond. In another half hour, 

* The prefix irpo has evidently in this word the sense of former ; as the 
French would say ancien abb6, or ex-prior. 

t See page 94. " At the beginning of the Ravolution, 150 of the monks 
had turned out against the Turks. The superior told me, that he and they 
were ready to take the field again when required." Stanhope's Greece, p. 
202. 



MODERN GREECE,. 411 

It crosses another summit, and then, in thirty-five minutes, leads 
to " a fouHt near a species of isthmus connecting the more lofty 
range of mountains with a high top covered with the ruins of an 
ancient city. This city was Bura, as may be learned from the 
cave of Hercules Buraicus on the north side of the rock. The 
whole country exhibits strong marks of the violence of earth- 
quakes."* After crossing the foundations of four walls which 
once secured the pass between the city and the mountain, the 
road turns to the right under the perpendicular rocks of Bura. 
A fountain is on tlie left, and another fine one is said to be 
among the ruins. To the left is a picturesque glen with a 
stream running from Mount Phteri. In three hours and three 
quarters, the road quits the mountains, and crosses the river. 
For a considerable distance, it lies in the bed of a torrent, and 
then leads into the maritime plain, where it is about three quar- 
ters of a mile wide, near the spot where once stood the city of 
Helice, which was swallowed up by an earthquake in the 100th 
Olympiad. f In about an hour and a half further, the traveller 
reaches Vostitza. The whole of this road, apparently, is for- 
midably strong, and might easily be rendered inaccessible. In 
winter, it must be almost impassable. 

On leaving the monastery for Patras, the traveller has to re- 
gain the plain of Kalabryta. In two hours, he crosses a bridge 
of six arches, near which may be observed some small Doric 
columns and capitals lying on the ground, and, in the rock, a 
sepulchral cave, " at present used as a church," the roof orna- 
mented with square compartments. Near it is another sepul- 
chral chamber, also hewn in the rock. A few minutes further is 



* Gell's Itin. p. 9. The cave of Hercules, which we presume to be the one 
here alluded to, is on a hill to the left of the road leading from the metochi of 
Megaspelia to Vostizza, about 2 hours and 18 min. from the latter place. " It 
is accessible by climbing among the bushes. Before the cave is a terrace wall, 
and holes in the rock for beams indicate a roof or portico in front. The cavern 
itself has been much enlarged by art, and a number of niches for votive ofiTer- 
ings attest its ancient sanctity. At a short distance is a sepulchral cave." — 
Cell's Itin. p. 7. In the cave or grotto of Hercules, a number of dice, marked 
in a particular manner, were placed before a statue of the god : four of these 
were taken promiscuously and rolled on a table on which corresponding marks 
were traced, with their interpretation. This chance-oracle was deemed infalli- 
ble, and was as much frequented as others. — See Trav. of Anacliarsis, c 37. 

+ Helice was 12 stadia from the sea, and 40 stadia from jEginm. Yet, the 
shock is said not to have been felt in the latter city, its direction being toward 
the other side ; and in the town of Bura, at nearly the same distance, walls, 
houses, temples, statues, men, and animals were all destroyed or crushed. The 
citizens, who were absent, rebuilt the town on their return ; but Helice, which 
is said to have been partially covered by the rise of the sea, never recovered 
from its overthrow, and .^gium took possession of its territory. — Trav^of Ana- 
chdrsis, c. 37. 



412 MODERN GREECE. 

a clear spring, forming a small stream, which in some places 
spreads into marshy ground, and contributes to fertilize the rich 
pastures of Kalabryta. The spring is supposed to be the foun- 
tain Alusson, the water of which was anciently deemed a specific 
cure for the bite of a mad dog : it is still considered as very sa- 
lubrious, and is resorted to by those who attend the church. 
The road to Tripotamia (Psophis) here turns off to the left 
through a narrow pass with a derveni : on the right is seen a 
metochi of Megaspelia. The road to Patras now lies over a 
gentle elevation to a forest of oaks, crossing, by a bridge, a river 
that falls into the Gulf between the Bouraikos and Vostitza. 
Mount Olenos is seen rising to the west. From this plain, the 
road again ascends through fine forests of oak and plane, former- 
ly notorious as the haunt of banditti, crossing several times a 
winding stream, which soon enters the Selinos. This river is 
then crossed by a bridge ; and an hour and five minutes further, 
a khan occurs on the left, where, on an eminence to the right, is 
a palaio-kastro, which now bears the name of Agios Andreas, 
from a church seen among the ruins. The walls are in most 
places nearly level with the ground, but may be traced round 
the ancient city, which was of considerable extent, and may 
possibly be Tritaia. About twenty minutes from the ruins is the 
village of Gusumistris, (where Mr. Dodwell passed the night,) 
situated in a large, undulating plain, under cultivation, but bare 
of timber: it is traversed by a river flowing S.E. 

The next morning, Mr. Dodwell proceeded through a gloomy 
country, in which were seen, scattered here and there, a few 
poor villages, apparently of Albanians. Within two hours and 
twenty minutes, he crossed a stream and two larger rivers flow- 
ing towards the Corinthian Gulf; probably the Phoenix and the 
Meganitas. The road then plunges into a deep and almost im- 
pervious forest of various species of oak,* formerly much dreaded 
on account of the robbers who infested this part of the way to 
Patras. One steep pass in particular had obtained the name of 
Makellaria or the butchery, from the murders committed there. 
To avoid this pass, and to baflle the pursuit of some Albanians 
who were watching the party, our Traveller was led by his 
guides a considerable circuit towards the foot of Mount Boidia 
(Panachaikon). This grand and picturesque chain, which be- 
gins at Patras, sends forth two principal branches, one of which 
stretches along the coast to Sicyon, uniting with a branch of the 



* Particularly quercus suber and q. ilex ; also, the silver fir (eXor»j), from the 
branches of which depended great clusters of misletoe. 



MODERN GREECE. 413 

lofty Cyllene ; while the other runs southward towards Elis, thus 
inclosing one of the angles of Arcadia, and separating it from the 
Achaian plains. The greater part of it is covered with venerable 
forests of oak and pine, and the side towards Patras is divided 
into green knolls and fertile glens. At length, after scrambling 
through the forest for three hours, the party had the joy of look- 
ing down on the fertile plain of Patras, at the extremity of which 
was seen the town, with the Ionian Sea and the entrance to the 
Gulf. In tlie plain, they crossed the slender stream of the Glau- 
kos (now called Leuka), flowing through a broad channel, and 
in an hour and ten minutes further, reached the city.* 



PATRAS. 

Patras, pronounced Patra by the Greeks, Patrasso by the 
Italians, and converted into Balia Badra (^Halaia Jlarga^ and 

* Mr. Dodwell makes the total distance from Tripolitza to Patras, thirty-five 
hours. (Vol. i. p. 124.) This agrees very accurately with Sir W. Gell's com- 
putation, viz. 

hours min. 

From Tripolitza to Phonia 10 .... 56 

Kalabryta 10 32 

Patras J2 55 

34 23m. 

The distance, according to the usual rate of travelling with baggage horses, 
must, therefore, be about 100 miles. The distance from Patras to Sinano 
(Megalopolis) is stated by Mr. Dodwell to be forty-two hours ; to Mistra, six- 
ty-three ; to Arkadia (Cyparissiae), forty hours ; to Modon, by Arkadia, sixty. 
The road from Sinauo to Patras has been traced as far as Karitena ; (vol. ii. 
p 27 ",) from which place a route is given by Sir W. Gell to Tripotamia (Pso- 
phis), leading through Saracinico, Anaziri, Agiani, Tsouka, Katzioula, and 
Vanina ; distance, twenty-five hours, forty-one minutes. In this route, the 
sites of chief interest are : — Between Saracinico and Trupe, the ruins of Bu- 
phagus and the source of its river. About two hours further, ruins of a Roman 
bath, with a source, said to have been once warm, but now mixed ; chapels 
and ancient vestiges near it ; the ancient name, Melsenea. Agiani (or Agios 
Joannes) is a small hamlet on the site of Hersea, seated on an eminence pro- 
jecting from the bills which bound the vale of the Alpheus on the north, and 
commanding twenty miles of its course. Half an hour further is the conflu- 
ence of the Ladon and the Alpheus; the road then turns N. up the left bank 
of the Ladon, through a beautiful countrj'. Near Katzioula, on the supposed 
site of the ancient Teuthis, are vestiges of a considerable modern city. Vanina 
(Banina), a kalybea of miserable huts, overlooking the beautiful valley of the 
Ladon, has its palaio-kastro and very considerable ruins of walls, colonnades, 
&.C. In less than an hour further, is the high, picturesque bridge of Spathari, 
and the supposed site of Haluns. Tripotamia derives its name from the juac- 
tiou of the Erimanthus, the Aroanius, and a third river, the source of which is 
at a village only seventy minutes distant. From this place, it is seven hours 
to Kalabryta. Total from Sinano 36 h. 41 min. ; which will make it about 
forty-nine hours and a half by this route to Patras. There is probably a shorter 
route, through Dimitzana, and more to the east. 



414 MODERN GREECE. 

Badradshik by the Turks, is seated on a gentle eminence pro- 
jecting from the foot of Mount Boidia, which rises about three 
miles to the east, and within a mile from the sea. Ancient tradi- 
tion ascribes its name to Patreus, son of Preugenes, who first 
surrounded it with walls, prior to which it was called Aroa : 
Augustus Caesar made it a Roman colon^ under the title of Aroa 
Patrensis or Patrensium. Under the Greek emperors, Patras was 
a dukedom*. It is the see of a Greek archbishop, and the Turk- 
ish governor has the title of vaivode. All the principal European 
states have resident consuls here. Although it suffered consider- 
ably in the year 1770, when it was pillaged by the Albanians, it 
had, prior to the Revohition, recovered its former prosperity, 
and was the most commercial place in Greece. " The commo- 
diousness of its situation is the reason that it has never been com- 
pletely abandoned since its foundation ; and Roman merchants 
were settled there in the time of Cicero, as the English and 
French are at present. It is the emporium of the Morea, and 
trades with all parts of the Levant, with Sicily and Italy, and 
even with France and England," Mr. Dodwell gives the fol- 
lowing description of the place. 

" Like all other Turkish cities, Patras is composed of dirty 
and narrow streets. The houses are built of earth baked in the 
sun : some of the best are white washed, and those belonging to 
the Turks ai"e ornamented with red paint. The eaves overhang 
the streets, and project so much, that opposite houses come 
almost in contact, leaving but little space for air and light, and 
keepipg the street in perfect shade ; which in hot weather is 
agreeable but far from healthy. In some places, arbours of large 
vines grow about the town, and with their thick bunches of pend- 
ent grapes have a cool and pleasing appearance. The pave- 
ments are infamously bad and calculated only for horses ; no car- 
riages of any kind being used in Greece, although they are 

known in Thessaly and Epirus Patra is supposed to contain 

about SOOO inhabitants, f the greater portion of whom are Greeks : 
many of them are merchants in comfortable circumstances. 
The Turks also are reckoned as civilized as those of Athens, 
but more wealthy. They have six mosques, one of which is in 

* In 1408, it was purchased by the Venetians ; was taken from them by the 
Turks in 1446 ; retaken by the Venetians in 1553 ; and finally regained by 
the Turks. 

t Sir W. Gell says, about 10,000 ; which is the more usual estimate. Many 
Jews resided here, and they had a synagogue. "Black slaves are more nu- 
merous at Patra than in any other part of Greece : after having faithfully 
served their masters a certain number of years, they obtain their freedom and 
naarry." 



1 



MODERN GREECE. 415 

llie castle, and the Greeks have nine principal churches.* The 
arclibishop has under him the suffragan bishops of Modon, 
Coron, and Bostitza : his title is Metropolitan of ancient Pa- 
trai and of all Achaia,f and his yearly revenue, about 10,000 
piasti'es. 

" The few ancient remains at this place are of Roman con- 
struction, and are neither grand, interesting, nor well preserved : 
it is vain to search for traces of the numerous temples and pub- 
lic edifices mentioned by Pausanias. The soil is rich, and has 
probably risen considerably above its original level, and conceals 
the foundations of ancient buildings. Indeed the earth is seldom 
removed without fragments of statues and rich marbles being dis- 
covered. Some marble columns and mutilitated statues were 
found here, a few years ago, in the garden of a Turk, who im- 
mediately broke them into small pieces. Towards the middle 
of the town is a fount, called Saint, Catarina's Well, near which 
is the foundarion of the cella of a temple, consisting of square 
blocks of stone, upon which is a superstructure of brick. This 
may be a Roman restoration. The ancients, however, practised 
the same mode of construction ; and the ruin may be the temple 
of Jupiter and Hercules, which, Pliny affirms, was of brick, ex- 
cept the columns and the epistyles. Within the castle are two 
beautiful torsos of female statues. The house of the imperial 
German consul stands on the ruins of a Roman brick theatre, of 
such small dimensions that it canot be the Odeum, which Pausa- 
nias says, was the finest in Greece, next to that built by Herodes 
Atticus at Athens. Not far from the house of the English con- 
sul is a long brick wall supporting a terrace, the probable site of 
a temple. f 

* Wheeler says, the cathedral has been turned into a mosque. 

+ HaXaiwv Uarpiov Kai iracrri; Ap^airj; uriTpoTroXiTTi;. The ^raXajuv is added ; to dis- 
ting-uish the Achaian Patrai from the vt:ai narpai, New Patras in Thessaly." 
The other archiepiscopal sees are those of Corinth, Nauplia, and Mistra. 

I Wheeler describes the Church dedicated to Saints John, George, 
and Nicholas as, " a very ancient church ; but hath ill-favoured arches within, 
though sustained by beautiful pillars of the Ionic order. On the outside, 
among many scraps of marble, is the basso-relievo of a peacock sitting upon a 
three-leaved tree, I guess to be anagyris (trefoil), which is not wanting in these 
parts ^ whence we judged also, that the church was built out of the ruins of 
some temple of Juno. At the door of this church is a stone which, being 
struck with another stone sendeth out a stinking bituminous savour. This, the 
Greeks make a miracle, telling that the judge, when he condemned Saint An- 
drew, sat upon that stone, which hath ever since had that ill scent. But I have 
smelt the like smell in other stones when broken." It is probably the black 
fetid limestone. The peaked summit now called Kaki Scala, on the .^tolian 
side of the Gulf, still emits the fetid odour noticed by Strabo. 



416 MODEKN GREECE. 

" The castle is situated on an eminence which commands the 
city : it was probably built on the ruins of the Greek and Roman 
acropolis, which contained the temple and the statue of Diana 
Laphria.* The walls, particularly that part facing the north, 
are composed of fragments of ancient edifices : among them are 
several blocks of marble, architraves, triglyphs, and metopce, one 
of which was ornamented with a rose in high relief and elegantly 
worked. The casde is at present so much neglected, that it has 
not above a dozen bad cannon fit for use, and it is merely calcu- 
lated to keep the Greeks and Albanians in subjection. There 
are some large fissures in the walls, occasioned by an earthquake 
which occurred about thirty years ago : the same shock killed 
forty persons, and thirteen were crushed by the falling of one of 
the turrets. A few years after I visited Greece, the round tower 
at the southern angle, which was the powder-magazine, was 
struck by lightning and totally destroyed. 

" The ancient port was situated to the west of the present 
harbour, near the ruined church of St. Andrew : it was artificial, 
and composed of large blocks of stone, great part of which have 
been removed to construct a mole to shelter small boats. Ships 
anchor in the road, half a mile from land, where there is good 
holding-ground, but no shelter whatever from the west and east 
winds : the latter sometimes blows with great impetuosity from 
the Gulf. Some large foundations, scarcely perceptible mark 
the direction of the two long walls which united the city and the 
port. A short way out of the town are remains of a Roman 
aqueduct, of brick : it had two tiers of arches, and some of the 
lower are entire. The small stream by which it is supplied, 
originates from a spring on the mountain : it now finds its way 
through the town, and forms a fountain near the custom-house. 
It still retains the name of Melikoukia,f and supplies the whole 
town with water. 

" Pausanias mentions a temple of Ceres and an oracular foun- 
tain near the sea. The church of Saint Andrew is in all proba- 
bility built on its ruins : the pavement is composed of rich 
marbles taken from some ancient edifice. Here are several 
fragments of the Rosso and the Verde Antico, and the purple 
and green porphyry. But the only thing which seems to identify 

* Tl)is is scarcely to be reconciled with the statement, that " Guillaume de 
Ville-Hardouin, Prince of Achaiaand the Morea, destroyed the archiepiscopal 
church of Patra, and built the castle upon its ruins." Had the temple of Diana, 
or that of Minerva Panachaida, been converted into a cathedral ? 

t Pausanias tells us that the river was formerly called Amilichus, (ajiEiXixos, 
inexorable,) from the human sacrifices offered on its banks to Diana Laphria ; 
but that, on their being abolished, it was changed to Milicbus. 



MODERN GREECE. 417 

the place, is the fountain which remains nearly as Pausanias 
describes it, and is still an agiasma or sacred well, being dedi- 
cated to St. Andrew. It is enclosed with a wall, which, being 
composed of small stones and mortar, seems not to be of more 
ancient date than the neighbouring church. Some steps lead 
down to it ; the v/ater is extremely cold and good. The church 
is completely in ruins, having been destroyed by the Albanian 
Moslems in the year 1770. The Greeks have made large offers 
to tlie Turks for permission to rebuild it, but, which they have 
not been able to obtain. They are never permitted to erect new 
churches, or to repair old ones, unless by special favour and a 
large sum of money. Saint Andrew's church is held in great 
veneration, as it is supposed to contain the bones of the apostle. 
On the anniversary of his festival, all the Greeks of Patra and 
the neighbouring villages resort to the ruins to pray. Candles 
are every night lighted in a shed, near which the body is thought 
to be buried. Gibbon tells us, that the town was saved in the 
eighth century, when besieged by the allied Slavonians and Sara- 
cens, ' by a phantom, or stranger, who fought in the foremost 
ranks under the character of St. Andrew the Apostle ; and the 
shrine which contained his relics, was decorated with the trophies 
of victory.'* 

" About two miles to the south of Patra is the famous cypress- 
tree, the trunk of which was eighteen feet in circumference when 
Spon visited Greece. I found its circuit twenty-three feet : it 



" In Pococke's time, a " large uninhabited convent" stood here, which was 
furnished with a stone tomb for the apostle, a little cell half under ground, in 
which he was represented to have dwelt, and the stone scaffold on which he 
was martyred ! This Traveller mentions twelve parish churches, besides four 
other chapels : to each of the parishes belonged about eighty Christian fami- 
lies. There were about 2<50 Turkish families and ten of Jews. He speaks 
also of some small ruins, apparently of a cii'cus, which, on one side, seeraed to 
have had the advantage of a rising ground for the seats ; and across the bed 
of a torrent to the east of the castle were remains of two aqueducts : the south- 
ern one, built of very thick walls of brick, was entirely destroyed ; the other, 
consisting of two tiers of arches, was standing. Patras was then the residence 
of the English consul-general of the Morea ; the French consul-general resided 
at Modon, and had a vice-consul here. Sir George Wheeler, who travelled 
about sixty years before Pococke, could not find any traces of a theatre ; but 
" under the wall of the town," he says, " is a place that seemeth to have been 
a circus or stadium, or perhaps a naumachia." Many in the town could yet 
remember an iron ring fastened to the wall, " which they supposed was to tie 
vessels to." The sides consisted of ranges of arches. Not far thence was the 
foundation of a church of St. Andrew, which seemed to have been a Roman 
sepulchre : in a vault beneath were niches for cinerary urns. If Pococke's 
account of Patras be correct, earthquakes and Albanians must have committed 
great havoc since he visited it. 

53 



41 S MODERN GREECE. 

has therefore grown five feet in one hundred and thirty years.* Its 
body appears perfectly sound, and its wide-spreading branches 
form a dense shade impenetrable to the sun. Near it are four 
others of considerable size, but of a different form from the large 
one, and tapering towards the top. The people have a kind of 
religious veneration for this tree, which they shew to strangers 
with pride. f The spot is beautiful ; and beneath the overhang- 
ing branches are seen the Laertian Islands, the Acarnanian 
and jEtoliaa coast, the mouth of the Corinthian Gulf, with 
Mounts Chalcis and Taphiassos,J and the town and castle of 
Patra."§ 

The exports of Patfas consist of silk, oil, the Corinth grape 
or currant, cheese, wool, wax, leather, and the juniper-berry 
(xfd'poxo-xxog) : its imports were trifling. The greater part of 
the plain is planted with vines, currants, and olives, interspersed 
with orchards of fig, pomegranate, almond, orange, lemon, and 
citron trees : the latter are celebrated for their delicious flavour.. 
The fields produce rich crops of corn, millet, cotton, and to- 
bacco. About forty years ago, Mr. Dodwell says, nearly the 
whole plain was in an uncultivated state ; the consequence of 
which was, that the air of the place, which is still reckoned un- 
healthy, was " as bad as that of Corinth, where the human 
frame subsists with difficulty." The marshy and uncultivated 
land which lies about three miles east of Patras in the road to 
Vostitza, and which is left in that state to afford pasture, is one 

* Wheeler says, that the body of the tree, a foot from the ground, was 
twenty-one feet about ; at four feet from the ground, seventeen feet eleven 
inches. The boughs extended from the trunk twenly-eight and a half feet. In 
returning from the gardens called Glycada, \n\^hich this cypress stands, this 
Traveller came to " the convent Hierocomium on the top of a hill, which hath 
about a dozen caloyers, and a church dedicated to the Holy Virgin, which is 
built with no great art, but well adorned, according to their mode, with pictures 
and silver lamps before them." An inscription in modern Greek " shewed 
that the convent was built out of the ruins of the fortress of Achaia, which is 
about ten miles from Patras." 

t Jinliqua cupressus 
Religione patrum multos servaia per annos. 

Ymo.JEn.n. 715. 
Pliny says, that the cypress was sacred to Pluto: it was the funereal tree of 
the ancients, like the yew-tree of English churchyards ; and the Turks have 
adopted it. At Constantinople, and in most large towns in Turkey, their 
burial-grounds are full of them. Mr. Dodwell says, he has seen Turks plant- 
ing cypresses near the tombs of their friends and relatives ; and it is interesting 
to observe with what care and attention they wafer them and watch their 
growth. The veneration for large trees is common to the Greeks and the 
Moslems. The cypress-tree near Mistra measures thirty feet in circumference. 
(Vol. i. p. 350.) Near Constantinople are others celebrated for their bulk. At 
Soma, near Milan, there is one nearly as large as that of Patras. 

% Now called Barasoba and Kaki Scala, 

§ Dodwell, vol. i. pp. 115—121. 



MODERN GREECE. 419 

cause of the present iinhealtliiness of the place. There can be 
little doubt that, by draining and cultivation, and an increased 
population, many tracts now abandoned as uninhabitable, might 
be redeemed from desolation. The malaria, the modern Hy- 
dra, will be subdued by the true Hercules — Labour. 

FROM PATRAS TO OLYMPIA. 

Four hours to the west of Patras is a small village called Old 
Achma.' [ITaXaco A^aia^, near an ancient site and a palaio-kas- 
tro, which occupied a small round hill. The city is supposed to 
have been Olenus.* Near the village is a khan, and on the 
shore, a custom-house. About a quarter of an hour to the east 
of the khan, there is a difficult ford over the broad and rapid 
Kamenitza, the ancient Peiron, which separated the territories of 
Patrag and Dyme. In the walls of the khan are some ancient 
blocks with sepulchral inscriptions. The site of Dyme is fixed 
by Sir W. Gell at a place called Palaio-Kastro, exhibiting only 
very obscure vestiges, seventy minutes to the west of the khan.f 

On leaving Palaio Achaia, the road runs along a continued 
plain, part of which is under cultivation, and the rest covered 
with forests of oak. J At the end of two hours and a half, there 
are remains of an ancient castle on a rocky hill, surrounded with 
deep and extensive iTiarshes communicating with the sea, and 
abounding with fish and wild fowl. The castle is built of rough 
unhewn stones, the largest of which measured seven feet in 
length, and has evidently been much restored and modernised. 
It appears to have had but one entrance, facing the sea, and is 
approached by a difficult and winding path. The walls in this 
part are fifteen feet in thickness. On the opposite side, a wall 
extends from the summit of the hill to the marshes. The emi- 
nence on which the castle stands, forms part of the chain of 
bills which, commencing in the plain, divide it into two parts, 
and terminate in the promontory of Araxos,§ now called Cape 

* This must be the fortress of Achaia, the ruins of which, Wheeler says, 
were used to build the convent near Patras. Pococke calls the place Cami- 
nitza, but agrees in fixing Olenus here ; the river also, he supposes to be the 
Melas or Peirus. Pharae might, he thinks, be at Saravalle, about a league 
from Patras, under the mountains, where there is an old castle. 

t Pococke evidently refers to this spot as the site of Dyme, but says, it is 
called by the Greeks, Old Acheea. Possibly that name may have been applied 
to more than one palaio-kastro. 

t Qiiercus esculus ; q. suber ; and q. cEgilops. 

§ Supposed to derive its name from its dividing the Eleian and Achaian ter- 
ritories. So, the Araxes divided Olympus from Ossa, and the Arachthos is 
thought by Mr. Dodwell to have the same derivation. 



420 MODERN GREECE. 

Papa (or Baba), the extreme north-western point of the Morea., 
Mr. Dodwell supposes the site to be that of the ancient fort of 
Teichos, erected, according to fable, by Hercules, as a strong- 
hold against the Eleians. To the right of the road is seen a salt 
lake, also called Papa, which appears to have been anciently a 
bay or creek. It is six miles in length, but narrow, and sepa- 
rated from the sea only by a low sand-bank, which is occasion- 
ally overflowed. It abounds with fish, which are a source of 
profit to the neighbouring villages. In the lake is a small island, 
on which stands a church dedicated to St. John. 

Forty minutes beyond the fortress, the river Larisos is crossed, 
running to the marshes; and twenty minutes further, (seven 
hours and a quarter from Patras,) the traveller arrives at a village 
and metochi called Mauro Bouna,^ composed of some scattered 
huts, and belonging to the monastery of Megaspelia, which is 
computed to be eighteen hours distant. Some massive blocks 
and fragments, and a large quantity of ancient tiles, indicate an 
ancient site. The surrounding country is a rich agricultural 
plain of great extent. The soil is sandy. The road now bends 
to the S.W., and in three hours and forty minutes, leads to a 
small village in a bushy hollow, called Capeletto. Two hours 
and a half further, a road leads off on the right to Gastouni 
(Castagni), while that on the left bends more to the eastward, 
and runs on to Palaiopoli, the ancient Elis. Castel Tornese is 
seen some time after, on an eminence rising from the sea, in a 
direction nearly W.S.W. ; and in about an hour after, the 
broad, shallow stream of the Peneus is crossed at a ford. In 
another hour, the traveller reaches the village of Palaiopoli, situ- 
ated at the south-western foot of some hillsj on one of which was 
the Eleian acropolis. 

ELIS. 

Of this ancient capital, the ruins are few and uninteresting, 
" Of Grecian remains," Mr. Dodwell says, " nothing is seen 
but a confused wreck of scattered blocks. There are some 
masses of brick- work, and an octagon tower of the same mate- 
rials, which appear to be of Roman origin. There are niches 
within the octagon building ; and we were informed that, below 
them, some statues had been excavated about fifteen years be- 

* No name is given to this metochi in the Itinerary. Mauro Bouno signi- 
fies black mountain ; and under this mountain, five hours from Capelletti, is 
Fortes, " probably the Pylos of Elis." — GelVs Itin,, p, 20. 



MODERN GREECE. 421 

"fore our arrival, and had been sent to Zante, where they were 
purchased by a Venetian. It is surprising that there should be 
so few remains of the temples, porticoes, theatres, and other edi- 
fices which embellished the town of Elis in the second century. 
Much is no doubt covered by the earth, which is considerably 
above thf original level." Of the acropolis, the only remains 
are a few large blocks of stone, some foundations, and the single 
frustum of a fluted Doric column. There are also remains of a 
modern castle, apparently Venetian, which, Sir W. Gell says, is 
called Kaloscopi or Belvedere. The latter name is stated by 
Pococke to have been given to the whole of Elis and Messenia 
under the Venetians. Hence it would seem, that this has been 
the site of a modern capital. But if so, Belvedere has shared 
the fate of Chiarenza. 

The latter town, which was a flourishing capital under the Ve- 
netians, occupied the site of the ancient Cyllene, the port of Elis, 
from which it was 120 stadia, or about fifteen miles distant. Cyl- 
lene contained two or three temples, one of which was famous 
for its ivory statue of ^sculapius. Its modern representative 
stands on a rough tongue of land, on the southern side of the 
bay to which it gives name. The port, Chandler says, is choked 
up : it still forms a convenient landing-place, however, for the 
small craft by which a petty commerce is carried on with Zante. 
" The debris of its ruins and the remains of a few churches 
of the lower empire, still indicate," Mr. Emerson says, " the 
considerable extent of the town, which is now reduced to five or 
six ruined huts." " Yet, this obscure place gave its title to a 
Greek dutchy comprising the greater part of Achaia, the 
name of which is still preserved in that of our English dukes of 
Clarence.* 

The total decay of this place seems to have been in part oc- 
casioned by the rising importance and superior advantages of the 
neighbouring port of Gastouni, distant about eight miles south- 
ward, on the left bank of the river Igliako ; three leagues E. of 
Palaiopoli, and four hours from Castel Tornese. This place 
was, a short lime ago, one of the most flourishing places in the 
Morea. M. Pouqueville estimates the population at 3000 souls. 
" I know not," he says, " what may be said concerning the an- 
dquity of Gastouni, but I know that it is one of the richest towns 
in Peloponnesus for its size and population." The surrounding 

* This title is stated to have come to the royal family of England, through 
the marriage of one of the Dukes of Clarenza (Chiarc nza( into the Hainault 
family. It was borne by Lionel, third son of Edward III, 



422 MODERN GREECE. 

country was well cultivated, and furnished abundance of wheat, 
maize, silk, cotton, wine, and cheese. The state of the town in 
the year 1825, is thus described by Mr. Emerson. 

*' This extensive town, which now presents merely a mass of 
ruins, was formerly one of the richest in the Pelononnesus ; 
being inhabited chiefly by Turks, who carried on an extensive 
trade in fruits and oil, which were shipped from a little harbour 
on the coast, formed by the mouth of the Peneus ; but even be- 
fore the bursting out of the Greek Revolution, it was in a most 
dilapidated state, having been sacked by the Schypetars, or ban- 
dit peasantry of the neighbouring district of Lalla. At the mo- 
ment I passed it, it presented one of the most striking pictures of 
solitude and misery 1 have ever witnessed ; — seated in the midst 
of an immense plain, its view bounded only by the ocean and 
the sky, its houses desolate and overthrown, and its streets grass- 
grown and noiseless. Its population having been almost exclu- 
sively Turks, their residences were, as usual, destroyed by the vic- 
torious Greeks ; and its passages were now choked up with the 
weeds which have sprung up amidst the debris of their mud 
walls and ruins. Its inhabitants are very few ; and at the mo- 
ment of our arrival, they were probably enjoying their mid-day 
sleep, as the only beings we saw, were a few lazy soldiers bask- 
ing amongst the ruins, who scarcely raised their heads to gaze on 
the passing Franks. We walked through apparently uninhab- 
ited streets, where not a sound was audible but the busy hum of 
clouds of insects, who were flitting round in all directions under 
the burning sun-beams."* 

" Ancient authors," remarks Mr. Dodwell, " enumerate 
above forty places in Eleia, which may come under the denomi- 
nation of towns, villages, or castles. Of these, scarcely any ves- 
tiges are left. As the whole territory was defended by the super- 
stition of the times from the intrusion of enemies, walls and forti- 
fications were deemed unnecessary precautions. The traces of 
some of their villages are marked by heaps of broken tiles and 
small stones vi^hich lie scattered about the plain. But no part of 
Greece of the same extent exhibits such a scanty portion of 
ancient remains as the country of Eleia ; and no coins are 
known to exist of any town in that territory, except of the capital. 
There were two places called Pylos in Eleia, and a third in Mes- 
seniaf , each of which laid claim to the honour of having given 

* Pict. of Greece, vol. i. p. 49 — 51. In this deserted spot, an amiable and 
accomplished young nobleman had breathed his last a short time before ; — 
Lord Charles Murray, son to the Duke of Athol. 

t See pp. 185 ; and 420, nott. 



MODERN GREECE. 425 

birth to the venerable Nestor. The former two have so entirely 
disappeared, that probably not a trace now remains by which 
their situations can be identified. 

" No part of Greece is more fertile than the territory of Eleia 
in which there is a rich mixture of hill and dale, of arable and 
pasture land, where numerous streams dispense their waters, and 
extensive forests spread their shade. Poiybius says, that Eleia 
is the most populous and plentiful part of the Peloponnesus, and 
tliat some families, prefering a country life, never visited the cap- 
ital for two or three generations. After the re-establishment of 
the Olympic Games by Iphitos, the whole Eleian territory was 
consecrated to the service of Jupiter. The inhabitants of this 
favoured region were exempt from bearing arms ; the territory 
was inviolable ; and when it was traversed by the troops of any 
neighbouring state, such troops were obliged to deposite their 
arms on the confines, nor did they receive them again till they 
quitted the territory. All the Grecian states were bound to ab- 
stain from invading it by most solemn obligations ; and this 
engagement was preserved with scrupulous fidelity, until the 
Spartan king, Agis, led his army into the country, and devastated 
the consecrated land. Olympia was siezed by the Arcadians in 
tlie 104th Olympiad, and the temple despoiled of its treasures. 
Elis was also taken by surprise by the Messenians."* 

Elis has been supposed to derive its name from its marshy 
situation. -j- The principal wealth of Augeas, one of its early 
kings, consisted in the immense herds pastured in the level plain, 
which, stretches north and south from the Peneus to the Alpheus. 
The royal stables, Mr. Dodwell suggests, were probably nothing 
more than the plain itself, the waters of which, for want of proper 
ouriets, had stagnated into foul marshes, which were cleared and 
purified by means of fosses and drains. To clean out these sta- 
bles, Hercules is said to have diverted the Peneus from its 
course. An hour and twenty minutes from Palaiopoli towards 
Pyrgo, there is a large ancient fosse extending towards the sea, 



* Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 317—320. 

tFrom iXoj, a marsli. It is remarkable, the learned Author observes,that 
most of the towns whose names begin with el, are situated in low and generally 
marshy ground ; for instance, theEleusisof Bceotia and Attica, and Elateia in 
Phocis. " Even the naiiie of our Ely in Cambridgeshire may owe its origin to 
a similar cause." Jacob Bryant would have found a very different etymology ; 
and in fact, Elis has been supposed to derive its name from Elisha, the son of 
Ion orJavan ; and the Isles of Elisha (Ezek. xxvii. 7.) are supposed to be the 
Ionian Isles. — See Calmet's Did. (art. Elisha), and Vincent's Periplus, 
yol. ii. p. 534. 



424 MODERN GREECE. 

which seems to have been contrived for the purpose of carrying 
off the waters in case of inundation. The coast is low and with- 
out any picturesque features. Pursuing tliis road through the 
plain, Mr. Dodwell, in about four hours, passed through a vil- 
lage named Messolongachi, within a mile and a half irom the 
sea ; and in three more, arrived at Pyrgo. 

This is described as a considerable town, pleasantly situated 
amid gardens and plantations on a moderate eminence, command- 
ing an extensive view of a rich plain, terminating on one side in 
the Cyllenian Gulf, and separated by green and undulating hills, 
on the other, from the plain of Pisatis or Olympia.* The pop- 
ulation was entirely Greek, with the exception of the aga, and 
the place wore the aspect of prosperity. It was the residence 
of a bishop, styled bishop of Olenos and Pylos. The town 
was under the government of the agas of Lalla, who were then 
"the real sovereigns of the country." Mr. Dodwell observed no 
traces of antiquity in the place ; and in fact, in 1795, the town 
was new : it then consisted of 600 houses. 

The port of Pyrgo is about two hours from the town : the road 
lies over a rich plain of Argillaceous soil. About an hour from 
the landing-place is the. monastery of the Panagia Scaphidia, or 
Virgin of the Skiffs, situated on an eminence a little to the south 
of Point Pheia.f Dr. Sibthorpe, who landed here from Zante 
(in 1795), found the establishment small and apparently poor : 
the frequent and unwelcome visits of the Turks, and the fear of 
robbers and pirates, kept the caloyers in constant alarm. A 
httle river flows below, in which otters are frequently taken, and 
the green backed lizard was seen sporting on its banks. Near 
the monastery is a lake fed by this stream, which appears to be 
the same that Dr. Sibthorpe calls the Milavla. He observed 
several water-tortoises in the pools. The gnats in this marshy 
district are so numerous and troublesome, that, this Traveller 
says, it is no wonder that the inhabitants of the banks of the 
Alpheus sacrificed to Jupiter Apomuius, the fly-expeller. 

" The town of Pyrgos," says Mr. Emerson, describing it in 
1825, " is in the best state of preservation of any that I have 
ever seen in Greece ; which arises from its having been totally 
inhabited by Greeks, who formerly carried on an extensive trade 

* Elis was divided into three valleys, the Peneian, the Pisatian, and the 
Triphylian. According to Strabo, the ancient Pyrgos was in the latter district, 
which bordered on Cyparissiee. 

t This was the beginning of Pisatis. On the promontory are a few vestiges 
of Fheia, and a castle now called Katakolo-kastro, 



MODERN GREECE. 425 

in wine ; the country adjacent being particularly well adapted to 
the culture ot' vines. The only traffic, however, which now sub- 
sists, is the transpoitation of sheep and cattle to the Ionian Islands ; 
and its only trade, a manufacture, which is, however, very 
extensive, of dresses, arms, and pistol-belts. The shops are 
pretty numerous, and in general well stocked with those articles, 
as well as witli shawls, cloths, and cotton goods ; and at each 
door, tlie children, and even men, were busily employed in the 
manufacture of gold thread and braiding for the embroidery 
of the vests and greaves. It contains a good church and 
the cathedral of the bishop of Gastouni, to which see Pyrgos 
belongs."* 

In proceeding from Pyrgo to Laila, Dr. Sibthorpe travelled 
over a rich plain cultivated with vines, and in an hour passed the 
■\dllage of Berbasina. In something less than another hour, he 
crossed the Arvoura, flowing into the Alpheus, which glided, on 
the right, through a rich plain, gay with a profusion of vaiious- 
coloured anemonies. Leaving the plain, he then entered the 
mountains, which are covered with the sea-pine, mixed with 
phillyrea, heath, arbutus, kermes oak, and mastic. Proceeding 
amid beautiful sylvan scenery, he left Oiympia about an hoar's 
distance to the right, passed a scattered village called Stavroke- 
phalo, and, late in the evening, arrived at Lalla. This village 
appears to have had nothing remarkable about it, except the im- 
posing military appearance of the pyrgo of the aga.f Of its 
*' martial but ferocious inhabitants," such as they were in 1795, 
this Traveller gives- the following account, 

* From this place, Mr. Emerson proceeded southward to Agolinitza, a 
ruined town built on the acclivity of a picturesque hill, coinmaDding- an exten- 
sive prospect of the Ionian Sea and the windings of tlie Alpheus, now called 
the Rouphia. The route had hitherto lain almost constantly along the shore, 
but now it entered a pass, and proceeded over a beautiful hilly country to 
Cristena. The next day, he reached Andruzzena, distant from Cristena eight 
hours. 

t It is a modern town. See page 196, note. From Lalla, Dr Sibthorpe 
proceeded over an elevated plain, to Deveri, five hours distant, on the confines 
of Arcadia ; and thence, winding through glens by a narrow rocky road, to 
Tripotamo (Tripotamia), a distance of tliree hours. Here he crossed a stone 
bridge of one arch, and traversed a rich plain, occasionally interrupted by a 
mountainous tract of wooded land, to Xeropotamio ; a distance of four hours. 
In half an hour further, he arrived at the banks of the Alpheus. The road now- 
lay through sylvan scenery and a well-watered country, much infested with 
robbers, to the khan of Dara, near a trout stream. On leaving the khan, he 
entered the pass of Dara, and in three hours left a lake a mile to the left ; 
then proceeded over some rocky ground covered with low wood, and crossed 
" the plain of Lebetha" (Lebadi or Livadi, the ancient Orchoraenos ; See page 
286) ; and in the evening reached Tripolitza. — See Walpole's Travels, pp. 
SI— 3. 

54 



426 MODERN GREECE. 

" The Lalliote is always clad in armour : when he dances he 
does not lay aside his arms. His feet and legs are naked to the 
knees, which are covered with large plates of silver. A breast- 
plate witli embossed buttons protects his body. His pistols and 
his dirk, richly ornamented, form constantly part of his dress, 
being stuck in his girdle. Lambs roasted whole are served at 
table, and every one has his fingers in the dish. Said-aga (the 
chieftain), when we visited him, was seated upon a carpet spread 
in the gallery of his house, which was extremely mean, as the 
habitation of a powerful chieftain who could lead into the field of 
battle upwards of a thousand armed men. The room in which 
we slept was the principal one in the house : it had not even 
glass in the windows ; there were only wooden shutters of such 
rude work, that they were ill calculated to resist the cold winds 
that sweep the high exposed plain of Lalla. During the day 
(March 3.), we had severe storms of snow and hail, and we 
crowded round the hearth, which was warmed with a good fire. 
Said had, a few years before, with four and forty of his follow- 
ers, taken sixty Albanian rebels, and sent them to Tripolitza, 
where they were executed. The terror of these people keeps 
the Morea in subjection. They were originally little better than 
a band of robbers, who, adding to corporal strength great courage, 
and inhabiting a country strongly fortified by nature, resisted 
successfully the precarious and unequal attempts to subdue them. 
In the invasion of the Morea, their services in repelling the Rus- 
sians were rewarded with the grants of the lands of the unhappy 
Greeks. They are now increasing in opulence, which, by soft- 
ening the ferocity of their manners, will, perhaps, at the same 
time diminish that hardy courage for which these mountaineers 
have been distinguished." 

In proceeding from Pyrgo to visit the ruins of Olympia, Mr. 
Dodwell passed for an hour and twenty minutes over the undu- 
lating plain, and then suddenly arrived on the banks of the Al- 
pheus, where it forms two low islands. The opposite bank is 
composed of low and picturesque hills, broken into glens and 
wooded, with the pretty village of Gulanza (or Boulantza) 
" peering on one side." Ascending the valley along the right 
bank of the stream, Mr. Dodwell passed a ruined church with a 
fluted Doric column, and, in a few minutes after, arrived at the 
Turkish village of Phloka, pleasantly situated in tlie midst of 
orchards on a green knoll rising from the plain. On leaving this 
place, he descended to a plain environed by low hills fringed 
with pines, and in half an hour crossed the Kladeos, turning a 
mill on its way to the Alpheus. Here the road bends round 



MODERN GREECE. 427 

the foot of the hill, when suddenly the plain of Olympia, in all 
its classic interest, bursts upon the view. 

OLYMPIA. 

The present name of the Olympic plain is Antilalla, which it 
appears to have derived from its situation opposite the town of 
Lalla.* It is of an oblong form, extending about a mile and a 
quarter from east to west, and is now " a fertile corn-field," the 
soil being saturated with the muddy deposite of the Alpheus, 
which forms its southern boundary, and which overflows at least 
once a year*. The earth is consequently raised above its origi- 
nal level, and no doubt conceals many rich remains of ancient 
art. Beyond the Alpheus is seen a range of hills, varied with 
wooded promontories and luxuriant recesses, their slopes culti- 
vated in terraces, supported by walls, and presenting the appear- 
ance of a colossal theatre. This chain of hills is much higher 
than that on the northern side of the plain, and is more particu- 
larly characterised by a steep rock rising from the river. This, 
the learned Traveller supposes to be Mount Typhaeon, from 
which those rash and presumptuous females were precipitated, 
who, in disregard of the stern interdict, sought to gratify their 
curiosity with a sight of the Olympic Games. 

The first ruin that occurs after passing the Kladeos, consists of 
some " unintelligible masses" of Roman wall at the foot of a 
pointed hill, supposed to be the Kgovioq OxOos, or Hill of Saturn. 
The side of the hill facing the Alpheus, has " a semi-circular 
indentation," which has induced some persons to imagine it the 
remains of a theatre ; but there are no traces of architecture to 
confirm this opinion. Near this spot is a tumulus. 

Pausanias mentions at Olympia, an amphitheatre built by 
Trajan, who is also stated to have constructed some baths, an 
agora, and a hippodrome. The other edifices enumerated by 
the classic Topographer, are, the Great Temple of Jupiter, the 
temples of Juno, Ceres, Hercules, and Venus, the Metroum, or 
temple of the mother of the gods, a temple dedicated to Pelops, 
the double temples of Lucina and Sosipolis, a stoa or portico, a 
gymnasium, a prytaneum, and various others of uncertain na- 
ture. " Of all this architectural splendour," says Mr. Dodwell, 
" the temple of Jupiter alone can be identified with any degree 
of certainty, A little imagination can discriminate the stadium, 
which v/as between the temple and the river in a grove of wild 

'* M. Pouqueville pretends, that it signifies the village of the echo. 



428 MODERN GREECE. 

olives. It was composed of banks of earth that have been level-^ 
led by time and the plough. Not many paces from the foot of 
the Kronian hill towards the Alpheus, we came to the miserable 
remains of a spacious temple, which there is every reason ta 
suppose that of the Olympian Jupiter. The soil, which has 
been considerably elevated, covers the greater part of the ruin. 
The wall of the cella rises only two feet above the ground. We 
employed some Turks to excavate, and we discovered some 
frusta of the Doric order, of which the flutings were thirteen 
inches wide, and the diameter of the whole column seven feet 
three inches. These dimensions considerably exceed those of 
the Parthenon and of the Olympeion at Athens, and are proba- 
bly larger than the columns of any temple that was ever erected 
in Greece. We also found part of a small column of Parian 
marble, which the intervals of the flutings shew to have been 
either of the Ionic or of the Corinthian order. It was too small 
to have belonged to the interior range of columns, being only one 
foot eight inches in diameter, but perhaps formed part of the in- 
closure of the throne of Jupiter. 

The great dimensions of the temple are particularly mentioned 
by Strabo. According to Pausanias, it was built of a stone 
found near the spot, approaching in hardness and colour the 
Parian marble, but of less specific gravity. " The stone how- 
ever, of which these ruins are composed," Mr. Dodwell con- 
tinues, " retains none of the characteristics mentioned by these 
authors, except its lightness. It is of a sand colour, soft, brittle, 
and full of holes, as it is composed of shells and concretions, which 
probably owe their formation to the waters of the Alpheus. 
Some remains which are still visible, render it evident that the 
columns were covered with a fine white stucco, about the tenth 
of an inch in thickness, which gave them the appearance of mar- 
ble, and which might easily have imposed upon inaccurate ob- 
servers. Not only the great dimensions of the columns which 
are found among the ruins, corroborate the supposition that this 
is actually the temple of Jupiter, but the conjecture seems to be 
confirmed by the black marble which we found in excavating, 
and which, according to Pausanias, composed the pavement in 
front of the statue. We found several fragments of the slabs, 
which appear to have been about six inches in thickness. It is 
perfectly black, and takes a fine polish, but is fiiable, and not of 
a very hard quality. This celebrated temple has of late years 
suffered considerable demolitions. The Lalliotes have even 
rooted up some of the foundations of this once-celebrated sanc- 
tuary, in order to use the materials in the construction of their 



MODERN GREECE. 429 

houses. The statue of the god, the finest that the world ever 
beheld, was sixty feet in height, and was reckoned among the 
great wonders. Indeed, it seems to have united at once all the 
beauty of form, and all the splendour of effect, that are produced 
by the highest excellence of the statuary and the painter. It 
was embellished with various metalic ornaments, aided by 
the gorgeous and dazzling magnificence of precious stones. 

" We ascended a hill to the west of the temple, and observed 
on its summit some ancient vestiges and large blocks of stone. 
This spot commands a most beautiful view, comprising the whole 
of the rich Olympic plain, with its ruins, its winding rivers, and 
surrounding hills, scattered with trees. The Alpheus, at Olym- 
pia, is broad and rapid, and about the breadth and colour of the 
Tiber at Rome. Like that river, it varies in the hue of its 
sti'eam, according to the nature of the soil through which it 
flows ; being clear and transparent in its rocky channels in Ar- 
cadia, and yellow and opaque in the rich plains of Eleia. Both 
the Alpheus and the Kladeos were revered nearly as divinities, 
and had altars dedicated to them, and were personified on the 
temple of Jupiter."* 

In proceeding towards the wretched village of Miraka, which 
is at the eastern extremity of the plain, f our Traveller observed 
in the way, some faint traces of banks and walls, which may 
have been the hippodrome and stadium. J They crossed a riv- 
ulet issuing from the hills to the left, and flowing to the Alpheus, 
near which are a few remains of ancient sepulchres. Chandler 
supposes that Miraka may stand on the hill of Pisa. Of the city 
of that name, the ancient capital of this district of Eleia, and the 
mother city of the Etrurian Pisa, it were in vain to look for any 
traces. So completely had it been destroyed by the Eleians, 
that, in the time of Pausanias, not so much as a ruin remained, 
and the whole space of ground which it occupied, had been con- 



* Dodvvell,vol. ii. pp. 334—6. 

t Here Mr. Dodwell passed tlie night, lod,£ring' in the p}jrgos of tlie aga, a: 
castellated house resembling the smaller kind of Highland castle in Scotland, 
In the night, the}' were awaked by an earthquake, which caused a violent 
concussion of the tower. The aga with great kindness came into their room 
to assure them, that there was no danger of the house falling, for that," being 
composed of pliable materials, it would bend, but not break." After remain- 
ing two days in this vicinity, the Travellers crossed the Alpheus, oppo- 
site Palaio Phanari, and prosecuted their journey through Messenia. — See 
page 196. 

X This was a terrace of earth, enclosed with banks of considerable height. 
The area was usually a stadium (620 feet) in length, whence the name ; but 
this, being measured by the foot of Hercules was nearly-double that length. 



430 MODERN GREECE. 

verted into a vineyard. This circumstance, however, favours 
the supposition that it was built on an acclivity ; and as there is 
said to have been a fountain of the same name, the rivulet above 
mentioned may possibly have its source near the spot, and may 
serve to identify it. Tradition must have preserved the knowl- 
edge of its situation in the time of Pausanias. Pisa is said to 
have derived its name from a daughter of Endymion, or, ac- 
cording to others, from a grandson of jEoIus. Its real origin is 
perhaps to be found in the nature of the surrounding territory, 
which answers to the word HkSos, a marshy meadow. It is said 
to have been situated between two mountains, called Ossa and 
Olympus. If Palaio Phanari may be thought to occupy one of 
these summits, and Lalla the other, Miraka might be said to lie be- 
tween them. 

From the former village, a bird's-eye view is obtained of the 
level and verdant meads of Olympia, with the meandering course 
of the Alpheus to its mouth. The name of Pisa, was long pre- 
served to designate the Olympian plain.* Olympia itself never 
was a town, nor is it called so, Mr. Dodwell remarks, by any 
ancient author. f It seems rather to have been the honorary 
designation of the sacred district of which Pisa was the chief 
town ; and not. only Pisatis, but the whole of Elis, was Olym- 
pian territory, consecrated to Jupiter. The name of Olympia 
was at first applied, probably, to the Altis, or sacred grove and 
the walled enclosure orperibolus. Afterwards, the proud appel- 
lation was assumed by the Eleian metropolis. f The true origin 
and derivation of the name are matter only of learned conjecture. 
Homer makes no mention either of Olympia or of the Olympic 
Games, and their real founder is supposed to be Iphitus, King of 
Elis, acting under the direction of the Delphic oracle, 776 B.C. 
ytrabo states, that Olympia, at first derived its reputation from 
the oracle of Olympian Jupiter ; and that though this oracle fell 
afterwards into decay, yet the temple regained its ancient honour. 
The fixing upon this spot for the celebration of the Games, 
would indeed go far to prove its previous sanctity. The word 

" " Where Pisa's olive decks the warrior's brow." 

Pindar, Olymp. vi. sUoph.2. 

" Till Pisa's crowded plains rise to thy raptured view." 

lb. Epod. 3. 

" If the love of Pisa's vale 
Pleasing transports can inspire." Olymp. i strop. 2. 

t West calls Olympia a city, and refers to Diodorus Siculus as his authority ; 
but this seems a mistake. 

t A unique coin in the British Museum, containing- the word OATMHIA, be- 
longs to Elis. 



MODERN GREECE. 431 

Olympus has been supposed to have an astronomical import and 
the Olympiad, it has been observed, is a lunar cycle corrected 
by the course of the sun.* Upon the whole, it appears proba- 
ble, ttiat the worship of Jupiter, as well as the Olympic Games, 
was grafted here upon some still more ancient institution, perhaps 
of Egyptian or Phenician origin, and blending, like that of the 
^sculapian Grove, philosophy with superstition and priestcraft. 
The first Olympian fane was probably only the ahis itself, styled 
by Pausanias an antique word, and evidently a local, if not an 
exotic one.f This was no other than a sacred grove, such as, 
alike in Syria, Greece, and Britain, was deemed the fittest tem- 
ple for the mystic rites of that early idolatry which appears to 
have been common to those countries, and of which, under differ- 
ent names, the sun and moon were the primary objects. That 
the Olympic oracle was of Egyptian origin, seems to be ren- 
dered highly probable by a circumstance mentioned by Herodo- 
tus. The Eleians are said to have sent deputies, in ancient 
times, into Egypt, to inquire of the sages of that nation whether 
they could suggest any necessary regulation which had been 
omitted in the management of the Olympic Games. | 

Olympia preserved much longer than Delphi, and with less 
diminution, the sacred property of which it was the depository. 
Some images were removed by the Emperor Tiberius, but, in 
the time of Pausanius, the temple of Jupiter still retained its 
original splendour. The number of altars and statues within the 
Altis, and of votive offerings which he mentions, is truly astonish- 

* The word has been derived by some from an Egyptian word signifying the 
zodiac ; by Bryant and others, from oiKpri, an oracle, and El. the Sun. Omphis 
is said to have been the name of an Egyptian deity ; and again, Olympia is 
stated by Eusebius to have been, in Egyptian, an appellation of the moon. — 
See West's Dissertation, § 4. Bryant's Mythology, vol. i. p. 295. 

t Baaltis was a title of Astarte, the Phenician Diana or Juno, and goddess 
of the groves. May not this suggest the etymoloey of the appellation, and 
Baal-altis be the queen of the grove ? Temples of the moon generally accom- 
panied those of the sun. Thus, Baal and Astaroth are commonly associated 
in the Old Testament, (2 Kings, xxi. 3 — 7 ; xxiii. 5,) as the temple of Juno is 
found near that of Olympian Jupiter, the Egyptian Osiris is accompanied by 
Isis, and Apollo is associated with Diana. So Horace (Carm, Seoul.) ; 

" PhoRbe, Sylvarumque potens Diana, 
Lucidum ccbU decus." 

" Condito mitis placidusqiie tela 
Supplices audi pueros, Apollo .- 
Siderum regina bicornis audi, 
Luna, puellas." 

I Herodot. lib.ii. c. 160. See Trav. of Anacharsis, vol. iii. c. 38. Thus we 
find the Birman emperor sending deputies to the sacred island of Ceylon, the 
seat of Pali learning, for information respecting the Budhic tenets and ritual. — 
See Mod. Trav., Birmah, p. 109. 



432 MODERN GREECE. 

ing. Besides four hundred and thirty-five statues of gods, he- 
roes, and Olympic victors, he enumerates images of horses, lions, 
oxen, and other animals in brass ; also, votive offerings of 
crowns, chariots, &lc., and precious images in gold, ivory and 
amber.* He declares that a person might see many things 
vs^onderful to tell of among the Greeks, but that the Olym- 
pic Games and the Eleusinian mysteries exceeded all other 
exhibitions. No religious ceremony in Greece was conducted 
with such striking pomp, or awakened such general enthusiasm. 
The Isthmian, the Delphic, the Nemean Games, the Panathenaia, 
even the Eleusinian processions, could not be compared in mag- 
nificence to those of 

" Olympia, mother of heroic games, 
Queen of true prophecy," 

which were held in Pisa's glorious vale. The computation by 
Olympiads was used till the reign of Theodosius the Great, when 
a new era was adopted, — that of the victory of Actium. The 
Olympic Games with the general assembly, were then abolished; 
and the image of Jupiter by Phidias, which Caligula had in vain 
wished to transport to Rome, was removed to Constantinople. f 
Jupiter and Pelops were banished from the seat of their ancient 
worship ; and Olympia, " venerable for its precious era" in the 
estimation of thejiistorian, and still more sacred to the fancy on 
account of the odes of the great Theban bard, in which the tour- 
naments J of ancient Greece are immortalized, — is now a name 
forgotten in its vicinity, and allied to nothing that any longer ex- 
ists. Pisa's crowded plains ai'e a solitude, and the name of An- 
tilalla reminds the traveller that its vineyards and olive-groves 
now enrich a barbarous tribe of Slavonian Moslems.^ 

* It was a favourite plan of the learned Wilkelmann, to raise a subscription 
for the excavation of the Olympic plain ; and Mr. Dodwell says tne diversion 
of the Alpheus from its present channel might be effected without great diffi- 
culty, and would probably bring to light many curious and valuable remains. 
*' The fishermen at this day, frequently drag up in their nets from the bed of the 
Alpheus the remains of ancient armour and utensils of brass." At Phloka, 
■she learned Traveller was shewn the fragments of a circular shield of bronze ; 
and a friend of his was fortunate enough to obtain from some fishermen, two entire 
helmets of bronze in perfect preservation and of excellent workmansliip, the- 
■extreme thinness of which renders it probable that they were never used in 
war, but worn only in the armed race, and in processions — oirXa irojUTreurj/pia. 
For this purpose five-and-twenty brass bucklers were kept in a temple at 
Olympia. 

t Chandler, c. 75. 

t This word will recall Gibbon's bold remark, that " impartial taste must 
prefer a Gothic tournament to the Olympic Games of classic antiquity." 

§ For further details relating to the Olympic Games, the reader may refer' 
fo West's Dissertation prefixed to the Odes of Pindar; Trav. of Anacharsis, 



MODERN GREECE. 433 

Here, having now completed our circuit of the Peloponnesus, 
We take leave of that portion of ancient Greece which is the 
richest in the monuments of classic art, as well as in historical 
and poetic recollections. All that remains of Sparta, Argos, 
Mycenae, Nemea, tlie ^\j-cadian cities, the ^sculapian town, 
Corinth, Sicyon, and Olyrnpia, has now in succession passed be- 
fore us, mingled with strange intrusive names and images of 
Turicish pashas, Venetian nobles, Greek caloyers, and Albanian 
robbers, with other things of modern date. All in Greece is 
transition and contrast. But we have yet before us Athens, 
Egina, and Delphi, the Heliconian mount, the vale of Tempe, 
and the glorious defile of Thermopylae. 



HELLAS.* 
FROM PATRAS TO SALONA. 

The Corinthian Gulf, the southern coast of which we have 
traced from Basilico to Patras, has a length of eighty-five miles 
assigned to it by Pliny, reckoning from the opposite promonto- 
ries of Rhium and Aiitirhium. It is now reckoned, however, 
only sixty miles from Patras to Corinth by sea. It has been dis- 
tinguished by different names. It is called by Thucydides the 
Sea of Crissa ; by Scylax the geographer, the Delphic Gulf; 
and it is now generally known as the Gulf of Naupactos or Le- 
panto, or sometimes as the Gulf of Salona. 

The coast as far as Phocis was the Ozolsean (or Western) 
Locris, afterw^ards annexed to jEtolia. In this territory was in- 
cluded the ancient Naupactos, now called Epacto b3^the Greeks, 
Enebechte by the Turks, and by the Italians, Lepanto. This 

vol. iii. C.38; and Dr. Hill's Essays on the Institutions, &c. of Ancient Greece, 
c. 56 ; with their authorities In Faber's Agonisticon, many o/ the cnstoras 
and ordinances of the Roman Church are shewn to bear a close resemblance 
to those of the Olympic stadium. St. Paul has been thought frequently to al- 
lude to these contests in illustrating the Christian conflict. 

* This name, according to the usual etymological system of the Greeks, is 
derived from a certain king Hellenus, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha ; ah Per- 
seus is said to have founded the empire of the Persians, and as Gra;ci;s v,as 
the father ef the Thessalus who gave name to Tlietsaly. This Hellcnus, 
moreover, supposed to be the Elisha of Gen. x. 4. aud Ezek. xxvii. 7. The 
application of the word is almost as arbitrary as its derivation is doubiiul. 
Anciently, it is said to have been restricted to part of Thessal_», about Larissa. 
At length it was extended to the whole of Greece, including Peloponnesus and 
both the Ionian and Egean Islands. It is now understood to be applied ouly 
to Continental Greece. 

55 



434 MODERN GREECE. 

is " a miserable pashalic and a ruinous town, but," Sir W. Gell 
says, " is worth visiting, because it gives a very exact idea of the 
ancient Greek city, with its citadel on Mount Rhegani, whence 
two walls come down to the coast and plain, forming a triangle. 
The port absolutely runs into the city, and is shut within the walls, 
which are erected on the ancient foundations. Chandler says, 
that its appearance " has been likened to the papal crown, the late- 
ral walls being crossed by four other ranges, and ascending to a 
point at the summit. The wall next the sea is indented with an 
oval harbour, of which the entrance is narrow, and capable of 
admitting only barks and small galleys." From the sea, five 
mosques are distinguishable. Lepanto was frequently taken and 
retaken in the wars between the Turks and the Venetians. To- 
gether with Patras and the casries of Romelia and Morea, it 
renders the Turks at present masters of the Gulf, but is not 
otherwise a place of much importance. It is reckoned seven 
hours from Missolonghi, and thirteen from Vrachori, the an- 
cient Thermo, the capital of jEtolia. 

The Gulf widens considerably after passing the promontories 
of Rhium, and Antirhium, but still more between Petronitza and 
Vostitza.* The former of these towns is conspicuously seated 
upon a hill a few miles from the sea, six hours S.W. of Salona : 
near it, there is said to be a palaio-kastro. After doubling Cape 
Andromarchi, on entering the Gulf of Salona, there is on the 
Locrian side, a large port called Anemo-Kabi ; further on, the 
small island and chapel of St. Demetrius ; beyond which are 
other insular rocks with chapels on each, called Apothia, Agiani, 
and Panagia ; then, the harbour of Inachi, and, after passing 
close to a low insulated rock, Galaxidi, supposed to be the an- 
cient CEanthea, a' town of the Locri Ozola;. 

Galaxidif is about fifteen miles from Salona, and thirty-six 
miles from Patras. The town is built on a rocky peninsula, 
having two secure ports, and bears a considerable resemblance 
to Mitylene on a small scale. The houses were of earth ; some 
of the best were whitewashed, and had two fioors. At the time 
of Mr. Dodwell's visit, the place was rapidly improving. The 
Galaxidiotes had purchased permission to erect a new church, 

* Both sides of the Gulf, Mr. Dodwell says, but particularly the Locrian, are 
very incorrectly laid down in our maps. 

t The name is apparently derived from a plant bearing a yellow flower (the 
euphorbia characias) , which, when in bloom, skives a peculiar sour smell to the 
country, and, the Greeks think, occasions bad air: hence the name, which 
signifies sour milk (from yaXa and o^oiSrjs. Mr. Dodwell suggests, that this 
may be the origin of the term Ozolai, applied to the country, which, Fausanias- 
saySy some attributed to the quantity of asphodel that grew there. 



MODERN GREECE. 435 

which was far advanced ; it was dedicated to Agio Nicolo, the 
Neptune of the modern Greeks. Tiie place lahours under the 
disadvantage, liowever, of having no source of fresli water within 
tlie distance of three miles, that in the wells being almost salt. 
" Fortunately for the Galaxidiotes," says our Traveller, " no 
Turks live amongst them : their industry, therefore, is not nipped 
in the bud, and they are beginning to be a commercial and 
wealthy little community. Their ports are excellent, and their 
territory affords a sufficiency for the consumption of the inhabi- 
tants, and for some trifling exports. They began to trade, and 
to construct merchant ships, about thirty years ago. Their 
commerce was at first confined to the Gulf, but they soon ex- 
tended it to the Ionian Islands, and afterwards to Italy, Sicily, 
and Spain. They have thirty small merchant ships for foreign 
commerce, and fifteen decked boats for the Gulf and the neigh- 
bouring islands. They bear a good character, and are skilful 
seamen." Such was Galaxidi ; but all its rising prosperity has 
been annihilated. In the first year of the Revolution, the town 
was burned by the Capitan Pasha, and its little navy fell into the 
hands of the enemy.* 

The only remains of the ancient town consist of some founda- 
tions and a long wall with three courses of large stones, well 
preserved, and built in " the fourth style," approaching to regular 
masonry. The principal part of the town seems to have been 
on a peninsula a few hundred yards to the east of the village, 
where the rocks have apparently been cut and flattened for the 
foundation of edifices, and some large blocks are yet remaining. 
Parnassus forms from this place an exceedingly grand object : 
its outline, however, is not much broken, but is composed of 
several round undulating masses. 

At Galaxidi, Mr. Dodwell commenced his tour in Greece, 
proceeding by land to Salona. The road lay through a barren 
rocky country, bounded on the north by bare hills, and on the 
south by the Gulf. Some small tracts of rich corn-land appeared 
among the rocks as they approached, at the end of three hours, 
a village and ruined site called Aiatheraia (Agia Euphemia). 
The ruins consist of walls in the style of those of Galaxidi, in 
good preservation with square towers at regular distances, about 
a mile and a half in circuit. Within the walls there are scarcely 
any remains, but merely several heaps of small stones and tiles, 
without any architectural fragments. From this place, the road 



* See page 105. Like Hydra, Galaxidi appears to have been colonized by 
Albaniaa Greeks : the women all wore the Arnaut costume. 



436 MODERN GREECE. 

led across a deep glen, with lofty calcareous rocks on each side, 
of a bright ochreous tint, looking as if they had been painted.* 
Leaving the village of Kouski to the right, it then turns round the 
point of a liill, and brings the traveller in view of Salona y dis- 
tance from Galaxidi, five hours. 

The port of Salona, called Scala, is at the head of the Gulf, 
from which the town is only three hours distant. Here, is a 
very good port with traces of an Hellenic city ; also a magazine 
and custom-house. About half an hour to the eastward of Scala 
is Cirrha, the port of Delphi, from which it was reckoned eighty 
stadia distant. The walls of the ancient city, enclosing a quad- 
rangular area on a very gentle eminence, are composed of large 
blocks. On the shore are a church and tower, and ruins of the 
ancient mole ; also, a mill turned by a salt stream. The Pleistus, 
which here falls into the Gulf, appears to be dry in summer. 
Chandler says, that, instead of its pursuing its way to Cirrha, he 
found it absorbed among the olive-grounds and vineyards. At 
the foot of Mount Cirphis, about half a mile from Cirrha, is the 
small village of Xerro-Pegadia.f 

SaJona, the ancieat Amphissa, is very picturesquely situated at 
the northern extremity of the Crissaean plain, (still called Kccfi- 
Tioq xov Kgiddov,) at the foot of some lofty mountains called 
Kophinas and Elatos, which nearly surround it. The castle, 
which occupies the place of the ancient acropolis, stands upon an 
abrupt rock, rising nobly in the middle of the city, which it com- 
pletely commands. The town, being at the extremity of a long 
valley and at the foot of high mountains, is exposed to severe 
cold in winter, and oppressive heat in summer. Putrid fevers 
are very prevalent and fatal here. The inhabitants were com- 
puted, in 1806, at between four and five thousand, nearly half of 
whom were Turks. The town contained several mosques be- 
sides a ruined one in the castle ; the Greeks also had many 
small churches, most of which were in a state of dilapidation. In 
the citadel, there is a ruined church of St. Anthony, beneath 
which is a subterraneous passage, said to communicate with the 
monastery of St. Saviour (0 E(j3Tr,goq), a mile distant. There 
is also a natural cavern in the rock, which is used as a nitre- 
manufactory. The acropolis is a mass of ruins. Three distinct 
periods of architecture are, however, distinguishable in its walls j 

* This appears to be the same glen that is referred to by Sir W. Gell in his 
route from Salona to Scala. " Segditza is a village three hours from Salona, 
one hour from which is a glen or chasm with water in it, so steep that there is 
HO path to the bottom Near this is a kastro called Kronia.' — Itinerary p. 198. 

t. Gell's Itinerary of Greece, p. 199. Chandler, vol. ii. c. 69. 



MODERN GREECE. 43'7 

the second Hellenic style, consisting of well-united polj'^gons, that 
ot the Lower Empire, and the Turkish. There are no remains 
of the temple of Minerva : its supposed site is occupied by the 
ruins of a large mansion, apparently Venetian, at the foot of 
which rises a copious spring, forming several clear fountains. In 
the cellar of one of the houses in the town, Mr, Dodwelf was 
shewn a large Mosaic pavement, coarsely worked, representing 
dogs, horses, tigers, and other animals. A short way out of the 
town, near the stream called Katzopenikta, there is an ancient 
sepulchral chamber, excavated in the rock in the shape of a bell. 
" The sarcophagus, which has been opened, is part of the solid 
rock : it is called Xvxov rgovTia, the Wolf's Hole, and is held 
sacred by the Turks, who image it once contained the bones of 
a Mohammedan saint, in honour of whom they place lighted 
candles in it." 

Amphissa was the most considerable city of the Hesperian* 
Locris ; it is described by Pausanias as a large and celebrated 
town. Salona still retains the shadow of its ancient importance. 
It is a bishopric, and its voivode had thirty-six Greek villages under 
him, including Galaxidi, Krisso, and Kastri. The author called 
upon this personage, and found him counting his beads, in a 
handsome apartment, well carpeted, and the divan furnished with 
large red velvet cushions ; the small upper windows were " Go- 
thic," and ornamented with painted glass, and the ceiling was of 
wood neatly carved : a chimney faced the entrance, before 
which hung a ponderous leathern curtain, such as those anciently 
used in Greece and Italy, to exclude the air from the apartment; 
and they are still in use in some parts of Italy. f The 
principal resource of Salona is its olive-groves which yield 
a crop every other year. Here, as well as at Athens, are pro- 
duced the columbades, the only olives which have the honour of 
being eaten in the Seraglio ; and Mr. Dodwell says, that he no- 
where else in Greece saw either the tree or the fruit of so large 
a size. The cotton also of Salona is remarkably fine, and its 
yellow leather is sought for all over Greece. Nitre and gun- 
powder are made here, but of a bad quality. Its chief trade 
used formerly to be in tobacco. 

At an early period of the revolutionary contest, Salona fell into 
the hands of the Greek armatoli under Panouria ; and in April 

* So called from their westerly situation with respect to the rest of Greece. 
Strabo states, that their public seal was the evening star, and it is represented 
on the Locrian coins. 

t Called by the Greeks rrapaTrcrao-fta ; by the Latins, awteww, and velum; 
and the servants in attendance to hold them up were called vslarii. 



438 MODERN GREECE. 

1824, a congress was got up here under the auspices of Colonel 
Stanhope and his friends Odysseus and Negri, the professed ob- 
ject of which was to terminate the differences between the con- 
stitutional and military parties, and to concert measures for the 
ensuing campaign in Eastern and Western Greece. The .real 
views of its chief promoters appear to have been, to expel Mav- 
rocordato and the Hydriote party, and to place Odysseus and 
Ypsilanti at the head of the government. Panouria and Goura 
were present, but Mavrocordato and Lord Byron declined at- 
tending ; and the congress broke up without having accomplished 
anything.* In the campaign of 1825, a Turkish division of the 
Seraskier's army, making a rapid movement from Zeitouni 
seized upon Salona, but it appears to have been subsequently 
abandoned. 

Next to that of the Isthmus, the route from Salona to Zeitouni 
is the most important in Greece, owing to the shortness of the 
distance from the head of the Bay of Salona to the Maliac Gulf 
and the facility of maritime intercourse which the latter affords 
with Salonika and the Hellespont. Its military strength is equal 
to its importance. It traverses two of the most remarkable 
passes in Greece. The more northern crosses a ridge which 
connects Mount Callidromus with the great summits of (Eta, 
dividing the plain of the Spercheius from the Dorian valley : the 
more southern separates Mount Cirphis from Parnassus. 

The Krissaean plain extends from Salona to the foot of Par- 
nassus below Kastri, a distance of twelve miles : it then dwindles 
into a narrow glen. The general breadth of the plain is fi'om 
a mile and a half to two miles ; but near Krisso it widens con- 
siderably, extending to the Gulf. When Mr. Dodwell travelled, 
it was cultivated with corn, cotton, millet, maize, and vines, inter- 
spersed with olives, but the hills which bound it are barren. At 
the end of two hours, he arrived at Krisso (the ancient Crissa), 
which is six miles from Salona, but only three from Scala. This 
is a town containing about 180 houses, then under the govern- 
ment of a Turkish aga. Traces of houses and several ruined 
churches near it, shew that it has been a much more considera- 
ble place, but, with the exception of some scattered blocks and 
illegible inscriptions, it contains no antiquities. 

Krisso was at that time the residence of the Bishop of Salona, 
to whom our Traveller had a letter of introduction ; and here he 
had an opportunity of seeing, for the first time, the interior of a 
Greek house. The primitive simplicity of the episcopal table 

* See pp. 142, and 172. Soon after Lord Byron died, Col. Stanhope left 
Greece, and Odysseus deserted the cause of Greece. 



MODERN GREECE. 439 

was, how(5Fer, but little to his taste. " There was nothing to 
eat," he says, " except rice and bad cheese ; the wine was exe- 
crable, and so impregnated with resin, that it almost took the skin 
from our lips. Before sitting down to dinner, as well as after- 
wards, we had to perform the ceremony of the cheironiptron or 
washing of the hands.* We dined at a round table of copper, 
tinned, supported upon one leg, like the monopodia of the ancients, 
and sat on cushions placed on the floor. The bishop insisted 
upon my Greek servant sitting at table with us ; and on my ob- 
serving that it was contrary to our custom, he answered, 
that he could not bear such ridiculous distinctions in his house. 
It was with difficulty I obtained the privilege of drinking out of 
my own glass, instead of out of the large goblet, the ^vXi^ (piXo- 
T>;(Jt«, or poculum amicitice which served for the whole party. 
The Greeks seldom drink ' till they have dined. Xenophon . 
mentions the same custom among the ancients. After dinner, 
strong, thick coffee without sugar was handed round. The 
houses have no bells, and the servants are called by the master's 
clapping his hands. The bishop is highly respected by the vil- 
lagers, and receives their homage with becoming dignity. After 
dinner, he sat smoking his pipe on a sofa, and several of the 
country people came in to pay their respects : they knelt down 
to him, touched the ground with their forehead, and then kissed 
his hand. The ceremony is almost as servile as the Chinese Ko 
Tou. The bishop keeps a KaXoygaca or good old lady in his 
house, who manages his domestic concerns : such a person is 
frequently found in the houses of the bishops, who are not per- 
mitted to marry." 

A short way out of the town, the church of Agioi Saranta 
(Forty Saints) stands on the brink of &n abrupt and lofty preci- 
pice, and the traces of walls are seen about the place. This, 
Mr. Dodwell thinks, was probably the ancient Crissa. The 
church commands a fine view of the plain, the town of Salona, 
the ports of Galaxidi, the Gulf, and the Achaian mountains in 
the distance. Sir W. Gell conjectures that the church may oc- 
cupy the site of the temple of Ceres, and that the glen of the 
Pleistus beneath it was the site of the Delphic hippodrome, " for 
which there was no sufficient space on the declivities above."" 
There is a semi-circular hollow between the foundations of two 
ruined towers, which, he thinks, may have been either " the 

* The servant holds on his left arm the tin basin (XeSns) called by the Turks 
levenn, while, with the other hand, he pours water from the ibrik on the hands 
of the washer, having a towel {i.iavSi\vj thrown over his shoulder to dry thens: 
with. 



440 / MODERN GREECE. 

boundary of Crissa and Delphi, a theatre, or a place for Games. 
Pindar says, that the Games were at Crissa, as does Pausanias 
also ; but they were in the valley or plain ; nor, indeed, could 
any space be found at Crissa, except below the rocks, any better 
than Delphi afforded." 

About half-way from Krisso to Kastri, " a vast precipice ren- 
ders the approach to the far-famed Delphi awfully grand and 
picturesque. On the leit of the road, the rock contains several 
sepulchral chambers cut in the solid mass ; their entrances are 
in the form of round arches. Some of them contain three sar- 
cophagi, each under a round niche, and forming but one mass 
with the rock : they have all been opened, and the covers are 
broken. Some large fragments in the vicinity have been thrown 
down, probably by earthquakes, and the sepulchres which were 
in them were rent asunder.* One of the tombs is an insulated 
mass close to the road. A few yards beyond, are traces of the 
wallsf and one oi the gates of 

DELPHI. 

" The road in this part is extremely narrow, overlooking a 
precipice on the right hand, while a rock rises on the left. 
There can be no doubt that this is the spot described by Livy, 
where some Macedonians, by order of Perseus, waylaid and at- 
tempted to destroy Eumenes, King of Pergamos. In about two 
hours (from Krisso), the traveller arrives at the village of Kastri. J 
The approach to this singular spot is exceedingly striking ; and, 
when its gods, its temples, and all the objects of its superstition 
were in full power and splendour, it must have impressed the 
beholder with religious awe. Its grand and theatrical appear- 
ance, combined with its ancient celebrity, its mouldering ruins, 
and its fallen state, forms so extreme a contrast, that it is diffi- 
cult to decide whether more regret is excited by its departed 

* This may illustrate Matt, xxvii. 51, 52. This kind of sepulchre, called by 
tlje ancieiits airriXaiov and k^vvtov, is seen at Athens, Haliartos, Thisbe, Am- 
pliissa, Demetrias, and in other parts of Greece ; in Palestine, Asia Minor, 
Persia, Egypt, Sicily, and Italy. 

t According to Justin, Delphi had originally no walls, being defended by its 
precipices, or rather, perhaps, like Pisa, b_v the sacredness of its territory. 
Strabo, however, gives it a circuit of sixteen stadia, which implies that it was 
then a walled town ; and Pausanias calls it TroXiy, a city. 

t " The computed distance from Salona to Krisso is two hours, and from the 
latter to Kastri, as much more, answering to about 120 stadia, which Pausanias 
makes it from Amphissa to Delphi. It is remarkable, that jEschines makes it 
only half that distance, which is evidently a mistake, in which he has been 
followed by Barthelemy." — DoDVVjELL. Sir W. Gell makes the distance from 
Kastri to Salona, 3 h. 9 min. 



MODERN GREECE. 441 

splendour, or more satisfaction felt at still beholding some re- 
mains of its former magnificence. 

" The first objects that attract the attention, are the vast pre- 
cipices of Parnassus, which rise nearly in perpendicular majesty 
behind the humble cottages of Kastri, and form the two noble 
points celebrated in antiquity. The vale is circular and deep, 
surrounded with the rough and barren rocks of Parnassus and 
Kirphis, by which it seems excluded from the rest of the world. 
Part of the vale is planted with olives and mulberry-trees ; and 
the corn grows on the terraces which were raised by the Del- 
phians for the security of their temples and their habitations, 
which could not otherwise have been supported, against the 
rapidity of the descent." 

At the base of the double-pointed precipitous rock (the 
0acdgia§ai JiBzgai'j, from which the mountain received its ancient 
epithet of Biceps Parnassus, and a few hundred yards to the 
east of the village, is the far-famed fount of inspiration, the Cas- 
TALiAN Spring. The water, as it issues from the rock, is re- 
ceived into a large, square, shallow basin, with steps to it, cut in 
the marble rock ; supposed to be the Castalian Bath, where the 
Pythia used to wash her whole body, and particularly her hair, 
before she placed herself upon the tripod in the temple of Apollo. 
Upon the opposite side is a stone seat, also hewn out of the rock. 
The face and sides of the precipice have been cut and flattened, 
and niches have been scooped, intended, Dr. Clarke thinks, to 
receive the votive offerings. One large circular niche is men- 
tioned by Mr. Dodwell as probably designed for a statue. 
Wheeler says, " there are three niches for statues ; a greater 
one in the middle, and tw^o lesser." Below these, and above 
the fountain, is " a kind of litrte chapel," dedicated to St. John, 
the Midsummer Apostle, wdio seems to have been fixed upon as 
the most appropriate successor to the Grecian Apollo.* The 
fountain is ornamented with pendent ivy, moss, brambles, and 
flowering shrubs, and is overshadowed by a large fig-tree, the 
roots of which have penetrated the fissures of the rock, while its 
wide-spreading branches throw a cool and refreshing gloom over 
tills most interesting spot.f In front of the spring, a majestic 

* See page 265, note. 

t When Dr. Clarke visited Delphi, some of the pensile plants and shrubs 
v/ere in flower, and mingled their varied hues over the red and grey masses of 
the marble. He mentions the silene congesta of Dr. Sibthorpe ; the arum ari- 
saritm (friar's cowl) ; and a nondescript species of lithospermum (gromwell), 
which he calls I. pythicum. Dr. Sibthorpe observed on the neighbouring rocks, 
several curious plants ; among others, a new species of daphne, which he callg 
d. castaliensis. Mr. Dodwell found some fine water-cresses growing on the 
56 



443 MODERN GREECE. 

plane-tree nearly defends it from the rays of the sun, which 
shines on it only a few hours in the day. A little above the 
usual level of the spring, a small arched conduit has been made 
on the western side, apparently to carry off the water when 
swelled by rain or snow. " Above the Phaedriades," Mr. Dod- 
well says, " is a plain with a small lake, the waters of which 
enter a katabathron or chasm ; and it is probably from this, that 
the Castalian spring is supplied. The superfluous water, after, 
trickling among the rocks, crosses the road, and enters a modern 
fount, from which it makes a quick descent to the bottom of the 
valley, through a narrow, rocky glen, fringed with olive and 
taulberry-trees, when it joins the little river Pleistos, and enters 
the sea near the ruins of Kirra. When we were at Delphi 
(Feb. 28), the Castalian spring was flowmg in a copious stream, 
and formed several cascades, the appearance of which was highly 
picturesque." 

The water of the fount is limpid, pleasant to the taste, and ex- 
tremely cold ;* " fit," Wheeler remarks, " to quench the thirst of 
those hot-headed poets" of his time, " who, in their Baccha- 
nals, spared neither God nor man. But the only use the present 
Delphians make of the sacred stream, is " to season their 
casks !"f Thus, the ancient connexion between Apollo and 
Bacchus would seem not to be entirely dissolved. One of the 
pointed summits of the cliff was sacred to the former, and the 
other to the latter : sacrifices also were offered to Bacchus on 
the summit of the mountain, which is not visible from Kastri. 
There are, indeed, three pointed rocks rising from Delphi ; the 
lowest is to the west of the Phaedriades. On a unique copper 
coin which Mr. Dodwell found at this place, Parnassus is repre- 
sented with a triple summit. The other two, however, between 
which the hallowed stream descends, formed the sacred rock : 
these were distinguished by the names of Naupleia and Hyam- 
peia. From the latter point, the Delphians, were accustomed 
to precipitate those who were obnoxious to their god, or to his 
priests ; and from this precipice, the famous fabulist jEsop was 

sides of the fountain, some of which he gathered for dinner. The villagers 
strange to say, were unacquainted with this wholesome salad, and were highly 
pleased at the discovery. They said, they should for the future call them 
ip^avKO'xpQTov. the Frank's herb. 

* Dr Chandler was seized with a violent chill and tremor after washing his 
hands in it in the evening, which he attributes to its coldness. " Perhaps," he 
remarks, " the Py thia, who bathed in this icy fluid, mistook the shivering for 
the god." 

t Sibthorpe in Walpole's Memoirs, p. 68. Some barrels, with other rubbish, 
tken served to choke up and interrupt the source. 



MODERN GREECE. 443 

thrown down, about 560 B.C. After that infamous act of in- 
justice and cruelty, the point Naupleia is said to have been used 
for that purpose. This, Mr Dodwell supposes to be the point 
which is to the west of the spring : the otlier rises immed'ately 
above it, to the height of about 100 ieet. The chasm or fissure 
by which they are separated, is not more than five or six yards in 
breadtii. This Traveller climbed up the rocks, by some ancient 
steps which are cut into it, to the small platform within this cleft. 
Wheeler refers apparently to these stairs as leading up to what he 
judged to be the Antrum Corycium, the Grotto of the Nymphs ; 
but they were so broken, he says, that there was no clambering 
up. By throwing stones up into the hole, he ascertained that 
there was water in it ; and he understood that after rains it formed 
a fine cascade. Dr. Clarke speaks of a cavern within the, cleft 
as visible from below, though he rejects Wheeler's notion of its 
being the Corycian Cave ; but he too was deterred from the at- 
tempt to ascend the rocky stair-case. Mr Dodwell, who seems 
to have succeeded in reaching the platform, speaks of no cave, 
but says : " Those who where hurled from the rock Hyampeia, 
owing to the unevenness of the precipice, probably sometimes 
fell upon this spot ; and the steps were perhaps made for the 
purpose of removing the bodies of those who had fallen there, 
and of giving the coup de grace to those who had not been killed 
by the fall, as the Romans did to those who happened to sur- 
vive their projection from the Tarpeian rock."* 

Next to this spot in interest, is the site of the temple of Apollo. Of 
the fane itself, however, not a vestige remains, and even its site can- 
not be identified with any certainty. It must be sought for, Mr. 
Dodwell says, under the humble cottages of Kastri, as the whole 
village probably stands within its ancient peribolus. It was in 
the upper part of the ancient town, and near a magnificent 
theatre. The Grecian theatres are generally hewn out of the 
solid rock, and are, therefore, the most indestructible of ancient 
monuments. Yet, no positive traces have hitherto been detected 
of this edifice, any more than of the temple. The gymnasium 
and the stadium, however, are still to be traced. 

The site of the gymnasium is now partly occupied by a mo- 
nastery called Panagia, its church being dedicated to the Virgin. 
It is built upon the brink of the mountain, below the fount, the 

* This very ancient mode of punishment appears to have prevailed all over 
Greece. The Athenian Barathron, the Spartan Cearfa, the Olympian TypcBon, 
and the Leucadian promontory are w-.dl known examples. The same practice 
evidently obtained among the Jews. — See Luke iv. 29. 



444 MODERN GREECE. 

foundations of the level area upon which it stands, being sus- 
tained by an immense bulwark of hewn stone. The ancient city 
rose in a theatrical form, on a series, of similar terraces, and the 
same front-work of hewn stone is to be seen in different parts of 
the abrupt declivity. Within the monastery are found several 
architectural fragments, capitals, friezes, and triglyphs, and a few 
inscriptions.* Those that went up from the gymnasium to the 
temple, Pausanias states, bad the fountain on their right hand. 
Some remains of the town wall are seen a little to the east of the 
fountain, where the eastern gate must formerly have stood, 
joining the foot of the Hyampeia. No part of the wall is left 
but the interior mass, consisting of an exceedingly hard compo- 
sition of stones and mortar, which was probably coated with 
large blocks of stone. The ancient and modern roads pass in 
this place : it was the sacred way by which the Athenians and 
Boeotians brought their pompous offerings to the Delphian shrine. 
The remains of the stadium are found on the other or western 
side of the village, on the highest part of the slope, under the 
precipitous rocks of the Parnassus. f It is even more entire 
than that of Athens, for some of the seats yet remain on the 
sides : at the upper extremities they are hewn in the rock. 
Wheeler says, that it is much smaller than the Athenian stadium, 
" although both had the same founder, Herodes Atticus." Pau- 
sanias states, that Herodes Atticus only ornamented the stadium 
with Pentelic marble ; and Dr. Clarke says, " the marble seats 
yet remain ;" but adds, " they consist of the same substance as 
the cliffs around Delphi." This, we presume, is not Pentelic 
marble ; and Mr. Dodwell states, that the ruins are entirely of 
stone, without the smallest fragment of marble. The situation 
of the stadium is very remarkable, as it includes, in every direc- 
tion, as much space as the nature of the ground can afford : the 

* Wheeler found these words inscribed in the pavement of the church : 
AtX^ov TTMXtMj OTT t\cv9cpov The caloyers were much pleased at being shewn 
the name of Delphos written in their church. In the wall was a marble in- 
scribed, AiaKaSa X"-'-?^') -^acides, farewell ; and on another, with an olive crown 
was inscribed : 

OAHMOSOAGHNAIOS HYeiOIS. 
Mr. Dodwell calls this the convent of Kalogeroi, and supposes it to have been 
erected on the site of a temple. " The Kalogeroi," he says, " who are of the 
order of St. Basilius, subsist by alms and the culture of their land. The hos- 
pitality which they exercise towards travellers, is made up of bread and cheesej 
olives and wine, with the use of an unfurnished apartment." Wheeler praises 
the " very good white wine." 

t The son of the papas of Kastri accompanied Mr Dodwell as far as the 
stadium without making any remarks : but he then exclaimed, £5w civai to StKcv 
ftus TtsvTadXov : here is our pentathlon (stadium) 1 



MODERN GREECE. 445 

two extremities, east and west, are terminated by rocks, which 
are cut into seats ; the northern side is bounded by the rise of 
die mountain, and the south by the rapid slope. There are ruins 
of the ancient wall which supported the terrace, composed of large 
blocks, some of which are 13 feet in length. The ancient and 
modern road passes at the foot of the wall. Dr. Clarke found the 
area to be 220 paces in length. A fine view of Salona, the Gulf, 
and tlie Acheeaii summit, is obtained from this part of the 
mountain. 

Near the stadium is a hill, where some ancient foundations may 
be discerned : three roads meet at this spot. The summit of the 
hill is flat, but not of large dimensions, and, as it is higher than 
the fountain Kassotis, it could not, Mr. Dodwell thinks, have 
been occupied by the temple of Apollo. Pausanias states, that 
the temple contained a very large space where several roads 
meet, and that the fountain Kassotis passed under ground in a 
secret part of it. The learned Traveller traced to its source, 
the small stream which runs towards the village. It is " situated 
near a large mass of rock, where several vestiges of antiquity are 
scattered around. At this spot, the Turks have constructed a 
fountain with a cistern, for the purpose of collecting the waters, 
to which the washerwomen of Kastri habitually resort. It is at 
present called Kerna. Some scattered blocks of considerable 
magnitude render it probable that the fountain was once sumptu- 
ously adorned. A litde above it are some ancient foundations, 
perhaps the Lesche (or portico), which contained the paintings 
of Polygnotos. The stream which issues from the spring runs 
towards the middle of the village, where it loses itself, impercep- 
tibly, near the aga's house. There are several remains about this 
spot ; and in the lower part of this and some adjoining houses, 
are some ^uied frusta, of the Doric order and of large dimen- 
sions. Some very long inscriptions, also, are still left on the 
walls which form part of his granary, and which almost cover 
one side of a neighbouring cow-house.* Near the same place is 
a fine inscription on a block of white marble, in which, as well 
as in some other inscriptions, the word ieromnemon (the title of an 
Amphictyonic deputy) frequendy occurs." 

Below the village, towards the south, is the small church of 
St. Elias, composed of ancient fragments, and standing upon a 
terrace supported by a fine wall of regular masonry, with pro- 
jecting buttresses, which formed the peribolus of a temple. This 

* One of these, in Greek and Latin, given by Mr. Dodwell, relates to bounda- 
ries, and is supposed to be of the time of one of the Roman emperors. 



446 MODERN GREECE. 

is the spot fixed upoli by Wheeler and his learned companion.^ 
Spon, as the site of the temple of Apollo. In the church are two 
architraves of Parian marble of very great magnitude ; and at 
the door is a square stone, inscribed on every side, but the letters 
are two much effaced to be legible. From the immense founda- 
tions observable here, it is plain. Dr. Clarke says, that the mon- 
astery was erected upon the site of one of the principle temples ; 
and Mr. Dodwell is of opinion, that it may comprise part of the 
ancient enclosure of the temple of Apollo ; but he conceives that 
the body of the temple, comprising the manteion, or the place 
where the oracles were given, must have been higher up, and 
probably within the present village, as Strabo particularly tells us 
that it was near the summit (wccra v.ogv^7ivy The name of the saint 
to whom the monastery is dedicated, is remarkable. The helicea 
was the name given to an uncovered court of judicature, on ac- 
count of its being exposed to the sun ; and the places consecrat- 
ed to St. Ellas, are usually found to be heliacic summits. Al- 
though the temple was in the upper part of the city, the sacred 
enclosure, which was of vast extent, and contained several small 
edifices used as treasuries may have extended to this part of the 
declivity. In " the court of a house situate in the very centre 
of the ancient city," and in an adjoining " stable" and " wood- 
house," Dr. Clarke supposed that the architectural remains and 
inscriptions plainly implied that he was on the site of the temple 
itself. This is evidently the spot fixed upon by Mr. Dodwell, 
near which the stream of Cassotis loses itself. One inscription, 
found by the former Traveller on this spot, is highly remarkable j 
it is to this effect : " The father and mother of Amarius Nepos 
jEgialinum, who had been honoured by the senate of Corinth 
with rewards due to him as senator and overseer of the forum, 
place their son under the protection of the Pythian Apollo." 

But where is the prophetic cavern !■ It has been searched for 
by every traveller in vain. It was probably nothing more, in 
fact, than a small crevice or fissure, produced by an eartliquake, 
and discovered by accident.* It could not have been very 
large, as the tripod stood over it, and concealed it from view, 
while the mephitic vapour was by this means prevented from 
dispersing itself in the cavern, or even affecting the priests who 



* The legend is, that some g-oats accidently approaching the fissure, were 
suddenly affected with convulsive emotions, and that the shepherds, attracted 
by the prodigy, on approaching the spot, experienced the same effects. In 
like manner, the temple of Apollo on Mount Soracte is said to have been 
founded on account of a pestilential vapour arising from a cavern, to which 
some shepherds were guided by a wolf. 



MODERN GREECE. 447 

ibrcibly held down the agonizing Pythia to the oXfxos or seat. 
That spot was in the adytvun of the temple, which was construct- 
ed oi jive stones, the work of Cyclopean architects.* This 
description of the Delphic sanctuary, which was no doubt the 
most ancient part of the temple, and probably, like the Caaba of 
Mekka, the nucleus of the idolatry, — would favour the supposi- 
tion, that the original temple belonged to the sazne class of rude, 
gigantic lithic monuments, as the cromlechs and circular sanc- 
tuaries consecrated to the same deity. From the number of 
stones mentioned, it may be inferred, either tliat there were four 
uprights supporting a flat stone, or, if the temple was uncovered, 
three uprights supporting two transverse blocks. 

The origin of the Delphic oracle and shrine stretches back 
into the twilight of history. Its wealth had become proverbial so 
early as the time of Homer, who, in the Hymn to Apollo, (if it 
be his,) gives a fabulous account of the institution, vi^hich may be 
held to prove that its true origin was unknown. The ancient 
temple having been, it is said, destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt 
by order of the Amphictyonic deputies, about the year 513 B.C. 
The architect is stated to have contracted to finish it for the sum 
of 300 talents (66,666/.), three-fourths of which sum were raised 
by a tax on the different cities of Greece, and the other fourth, 
by the inhabitants of Delphi. The edifice was of stone, fronted 
with Parian marble, and the labours of the sculptor and the sta- 
tuary were lavished on its embellishment. The enclosure was 
filled with treasuries, in which many cities had consecrated tenths 
of the spoil taken in war, with the master-pieces of art, and the 
pompous offerings of monarchs.f Of the prodigious amount of 
these treasures, we may form some idea from the alleged fact, 
that the Phocians plundered the temple of gold and silver to the 
enormous amount of above two millions sterling. J 

" It is observed by Strabo," says Chandler, " that great 
riches, though the property of a god, are not easily secured. 

* Stephanus of Byzantium in Clarke. Ciiandler, without citing liis authori- 
ty, says : " It is related that the temple of Apollo was at first a kind of cottage 
covered with boughs of laurel. An edifice of stone was erected by Trophonius 
and Agamedes, which subsisted about 700 years, and was burned in the year 
636 after the taking of Troy, and 548 B.C." How the stone edifice could be 
burned, is not very obvious. Probably the adytum only was of stone. Was 
the temple a grove ? 

t Even the Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Italians, 
and the Hyperboreans themselves, sent offerings to Delphi. Strabo calls the 
temple of Apollo, to tcpov koivov, the common temple ; and Livy, commune hu- 
mani generis oraculum. — See Dodwell. 

t 10,0f)0 talents, equal to 2,250,000/. sterling. — Trav. of Much., vol. ii. p. 
335. Mr. Dodwell says, " near a million sterling." 



448 MODERN €REECE. 

Several attempts to rob Apollo are on record. Neoptolemus 
was slain, while sacrificing, on suspicion. Xerxes divided his 
army at Panopeus, and proceeded with the main body through 
Boeotia into Attica, while a party, keeping Parnassus on the 
right, advanced along Schiste to Delphi, but was taken with a 
panic, as near Ilium, and fled. This monarch, it is related, was 
as well apprised of the contents of the temple, and the sumptuous 
offerings of Halyattes and Croesus, as of the effects which he 
had left behind in his own palace. The divine hoard was 
seized by the Phocensians under Philomelus, and dissipated in 
a long war with the Amphictyons. The Gauls experienced a 
reception like that of the Persians, and manifested similar dis- 
may and superstition. Sylla, wanting money to pay his army, 
sent to borrow from the holy treasury ; and when his messenger 
would have frightened him by reporting a prodigy, that the 
sound of a harp had been heard from within the sanctuary, re- 
plied, it was a sign that the god was happy to obhge him." * 

Delphi was plundered eleven times before the reign of Nero, 
who is stated to have taken 500 bronze statues from the temple, 
and to have polluted the adytum by putting men to death at the 
mouth of the oracular cave. In the time even of Strabo, the 
establishment was fast declining in wealth and credit 5 but the 
offerings which remained were numerous. In the time of Pau- 
sanias, the holy treasuries were empty; yet, a multitude of 
curiosities were still untouched. Lucian says, that answers 
were still given by the oracle in his time ; but Juvenal refers to 
them as having ceased. f Constantine the Great proved a more 
fatal enemy to Apollo and Delphi, than either Sylla or Nero. 
He removed the sacred tripods to adorn the hippodrome of his 
new city, where, together with the Apollo, the statues of the 
Heliconian Muses, and a celebrated statue of Pan, they were 
extant when Sozomen wrote his history. J Julian was desirous 
of restoring the temple, but he abandoned the project on its being 
represented to him, that the " well-built court" had fallen to the 
ground, and that the " vocal fountain" had ceased to flow. 

The intense, interest excited by the recollections associated 
with this venerable metropolis of classic idolatry, the fabled birth- 
place of the Muses, and fountain-head of poetic inspiration, — 
the illusion created by the names of Parnassus, Castaly, and 
Delphi, is apt to blind the judgment to the true character of the 

* Chandler, vol. ii.p. 321. 

t " quoniam Delphis oracula cessant, 

Et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri." Sat, vi. 554, 
$ See Gibbon, c. xvii. This took place, AJ). 324. 



MODERN GREECE. 449 

hieratic establishment which for so many ages abused the credu- 
lity of mankind. We are apt to forget that the pompous fabric 
was but a theatric deception, a splendid falsehood, the founda- 
tions of wbich were laid in impiety and fraud. The crime of 
ha\ning " changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an 
image resembling corruptible man," of having " perverted the 
trutli of God into a Ue," was but the first crime of a series. 
The cunningly devised fable could be sustained only by cruelty 
as well as dishonest artifice. The functions exercised by the 
Pythic priestesses were attended by sufferings which frequently 
proved fatal. " The priests know this," the Anacharsis of Bar- 
thelemy is made to say ; " yet had we seen them multiply and 
calmly contemplate the torments under which she was sinking. 
It is still more painful to reflect, that they are rendered thus cal- 
lous to the feelings of humanity by sordid interest. But for the 
furious ravings of the Pythia, she would be less consulted, ' and 
consequently, the liberalities of the people would be less abun- 
dant ; for an answer is not to be obtained gratuitously from the 
god. Such as render him only a simple homage, must at least 
deposite cakes and other offerings on the altar ; they who wish 
to consult the oracle, are obliged to sacrifice animals. ...and mer- 
cenary soothsayers have been known, after examining the entrails 
of an animal, to carry off whole pieces of it, and order the sacri- 
fice to be recommenced. Yet, this tribute imposed on the cre- 
dulity of mankind during the whole year,* and severely exacted 
by the priests, whose principal revenue it forms,f is infinitely 

* " The season of inquiry," Chandler says, "was the spring, during the 
month Budus, after which Apollo was supposed to visit the altars of the Hy- 
perboreans." The authority for this statement is not given: perhaps it was 
founded on the passage in Claudian, cited by Mr. Dodwell as referring to the 
final cessation of the Delphic oracle : 

■ " cum pulcher Apollo 



Lustrat Hyperboreas, Delphis cessantibus, aras." 

t la the Hymn to Apollo ascribed to Homer, Latona thus addresses the Isle 
of Delos, the birth-place of the archer-god : 

" Delos ! if thou become my son's domain, 
If here Apollo fix his splendid fane, 
Sacred alone to him, thy seats shall be 
From other lords and mortal tyrants free. 
What though nor flocks nor herds thy pastures feed, 
No harvest ripen and no vintage bleed ; 
Yet, if thy shores his sacred temples grace. 
From each assembling tribe of human race 
Shall hecatombs with pious zeal be given ; 
The smoke of ofiered victims climb to heaven ; 
While every god protective influence yields, 
And foreign plenty crowns thy barren fields," 
57 



450 MODERN GREECE. 

less dangerous than the influence of their answers on the public 
affairs of Greece and of the world. Who but must weep over 
the miseries of humanity, when he reflects that, besides the pre- 
tended prodigies of which the inhabitants make a constant traffic, 
the answers of the Pythia are to be obtained by money ; and 
that thus a single word, dictated by corrupt priests, and uttered 
by a senseless girl, suffices to excite bloody wars, and spread 
desolation through a whole kingdom."* 

Mr. Dodwell supposes that the true explanation of the allego- 
ricai fiction relating to Apollo and Pytho, is, that the serpent 
was the river Cephissus, which, after the flood of Ogyges and 
Deucalion had overflowed the plains, surrounded Parnassus with 
its serpentine involutions, and was reduced by the rays of the 
sun within its due limits. It is, however, very evident, that the 
fiction was of exotic origin ; and the learned Traveller admits, 
that it may have been copied from the Egyptian story of Horus 
and Ob. Herodotus tells us that Apollo is the same as Horus ; 
and, in fact, both words signify the destroyer, as oh or oph is the 
python or serpent. Yet, Pythios was also a title of Apollo ; and 
a dragon, Macrobius informs us, was used as a symbol of the 
sun. 

Without plunging into the labyrinth of ancient mythology, it 
may be safely affirmed, that, like the institutions at Pisa and 
Epidaurus, the worship of Apollo was first introduced by foreign 
colonists ; and from the Hymn to Apollo, it may be presumed, 
that Delos and Crete were the more ancient seats of the same 
idolatry. It would also seem from the same poem, that, prior to 
its introduction, Delphi was already famous for its sancdty, and 
that its fountain was the object of religious veneration. Apollo 
is represented as assuming the name of Delphusius, on partaking 
of the fame which the nymph of the fountain before enjoyed un- 
divided. The nature of the more ancient worship which he 
consented to share, may be gathered from the fact, that one of 
the Phsedriades is said to have been sacred to Bacchus ; also, 
that the Corycian Cave was consecrated to the same deity, as 
well as to Pan and the Nymphs ; and that the Dionysian orgies 

In like manner, when the Cretan voyagers who were driven by the god on the 
Delphic coast, inquired of Apollo how they were to subsist on the ungenial 
shore, they were told, that by their hands should fall the frequent victim, and 
that the winds should 

" waft from every shore, 
Of nature's richest boons a plenteous store." 

* Trav. of Anacharsis, vol. ii. p. 349. The reader will find in this chapter, 
the best account of the temple, oracle, and games. 



MODERN GREECE. 451 

were celebrated by the Athenian Thyades on the summit of the 
mountain.* It has been remarked, that Homer makes a clear 
distinction between Apollo, or Phoebus, and the Sun ; and it is 
impossible to read the Hymns ascribed to him, more especially 
those to the Sun and Moon> without perceiving that, in his my- 
thology, they had no connexion with Apollo and Diana. There 
is the same marked distinction between Vishnoo and his incar- 
nation Krishnu, the Hindoo Apollo, who, as a herdsmen, an 
archer, the destroyer of a dreadful serpent, and the patron of 
music, is the very counterpart of the Delphic god. May we not 
then interpret Apollo's assuming the name of Delphusius, as im- 
plying that his worship was grafted on that of the elder idolatry, 
by which means he assumed the character, or was recognised as 
an incarnation of the great solar deity *? The Author ot the 
Hymn seems to pun on the word Delphi, in making Apollo trans- 
form himself into a dolphin [6al(pt^y That the word was a 
foreign one, and not understood, is very plain. By some it was 
supposed to denote that Delphi was the centre or navel of the 
earth. It probably implied an oracle. Mr. Faber makes it 
Tel Phi, the oracle of the sun ; and Jacob Bryant would tempt 
us to resolve the Nymph who originally presided over the sacred 
precincts of Delphusa, into Ain oniphe,fons oraciiU.j- The Py- 
thic cave was, in all probability, a lucky discovery, which was 
subsequently pressed into the ser\dce of the deity, and became 
so lucrative a source of attraction, and ultimately so important a 

* That Bacchus, Osiris, Agonis, Dionusus, Liber, are al! names of the same 
deity, the sun, has been shewn from many ancient testimonies. Thus, iti an 
epigram of Ausonius, cited by Mr. Faber, in his Dissertation on the Cabiri 
(vol.i. p. 156), 

•' Ogygiame Bacchum vocat ; 
Osirin JE^yptus putat ; 
Mysi Phanacem nominant ; 
Dionuson Indi exisiimant ; 
Romana sacra Liberum ; 
Jlrabica gens Moneum." 

Sophocles addresses Bacchus as the glorious leader of the fire breathing' stars ; 
and Virgil (Georg. i. 6) thus addresses the same deity : 

■ " Vos, clarrissima mundi 



Lumiiia, labtntem ccelo qui ducitis annum, 
Liber et alma Ceres." 

In the Orphic Fragments, it is declared : 

Eis Zsuf, ui A'Srji, et; 'HXiof, «j Aiovucos" 
t See Faber on the Cabiri, vol. i. p. 66. Bryant's Mythol. vol. i. p. 110, 
345. Ae\(pvs signifies matrix ; but Sc\(l)oi has been derived from the Arabic 
lelb, to inquire. See Jones's Greek Lexicon. The Scholiast of Euripides 
makes delphin to be the name of the serpent. 



462 MODERN GREECE. 

political engine, as to eclipse every other mystic fount, or cave, 
or grove that had been sanctified by the ancient superstition. 
This may serve to explain how it came to pass, that the son of 
Latona, far inferior in dignity to Olympian Jove or the Lycaean 
Pan, should have been exalted to the highest rank in the Pan- 
theon, as the patron deity of that theocracy which in a sense 
governed Greece. 

" On leaving the monastery of Elias," Dr. Clarke says, " we 
found a recess hewn in the rock, either for a sepulchre or an 
oracular cave. The walls of the temple extend near to it. 
Within this recess are arched cavities upon the right and left ; 
and there is one in front, lined with painted stucco, having two 
smaller cavities over it, and above the whole, a bull's head very 
finely sculptured." Mr. Dodwellsaw no appearance of an "ora- 
cular cave," but says : " Near St. Elias are two sepulchral 
chambers cut in the rock, one of which contains a sarcophagus 
with its cover still entire ; some other sepulchres of the same 
kind are seen in different parts of the rock."* Hard by, there 
is " an alcove," or semicircular grotto hewn in the rock, with a 
seat all round it ; of which there are other examples near Gre- 
cian temples.f When seated within this grotto, the view em- 
braces the whole coilon'^ or circus of the ancient city. " Indeed," 
says Dr. Clarke, " to have a faithful conception of what Delphi 
was, it is only necessary to imagine an ancient theatre, with ter- 
races of stone instead of seats, rising one above the other, of 
sufficient width to admit of temples and other public buildings ; 

" A short distance from the monastery of the Kalogeroi, in the way to Ara- 
koba, are similar sepulchral caverns, containing, when Mr. Dodwell travelled, 
some unopened sarcophagi. One of these sepulchres has been very magnificent ; 
the rock is flattened and cut in the form of a folding-door, similar to the se- 
pulchres at Telmessus in Caria There is a large perpendicular fissure in the 
rock, apparently occasioned by an earthquake. " The Kastriotes have a tra- 
dition, that, at the birth of Christ, , a priest of Apollo, who was sacrificing at 
this place, suddenly stopped the sacrificial ceremonies, and declared to the 
multitude, that the son of a God was at that moment born, whose power would 
equal that of Apollo, but that the Delphian god would ultimatelj' triumph over 
the new-born divinity. The words were scarcely uttered, when the rock was 
rent in two by d. clap of thunder, and the priest was consumed to ashes by a 
flash of lightning." — Dodwell, vol. ii. p. 195. A mile from Kastri, are ruins 
of a small square edifice, strongly built of large stones, the entrance by a door 
diminishing almost imperceptibly towards the top : the interior is a mass of 
ruins; but the remains of a large sarcophagus near it, shew it to have been 
the sepulchre of some distinguished personage. 

t There is one of a similar kind attached to the temple of Neptune at Ka- 
lauria (sec page 346), and another at the entrance of Pompeii. That of Del- 
phi is considerably buried. An inscription states that it wa.q erected, Aristagoras 
being archon of Delphi, and Alexander polemarch of .^tolia. 

t It is styled by Pind-ir, KoiXomSiav vairos ; in Homer's Hymn to Apollo, 
Koi\r} — firjorva ; by Stftltjo, Qsarponies- 



MODERN GREECE. 453 

the Stadium being the uppermost structure of the whole series, 
and tlie Castalian Spring and the Gymnasium at tlie right ex- 
tremity. The front work of these terraces, being perfectly even 
and perpendicular, is every where artificial. Tlie masonry re- 
mains in many places entire ; but, as it does not now continue 
throughout the whole semicircle, a hasty observer might conclude 
tliat the detached parts were so many separate foundations of 
temples. There is enough remaining to enable a skilful archi- 
tect to form an accurate plan of the city ; but it should be fitted 
to a model of Parnassus." The situation of both the streets and 
the houses, Mr. Dodwell says, may be discerned by the alterna- 
tion of narrow and broad terraces. Some transverse streets seem 
to have intersected the others nearly at right angles, and the 
town when entire, must have exhibited a most imposing spectacle. 
Yet few fragments of marble are now to be found among the 
ruins ;* and the soil is too thin to conceal large masses. All its 
pomp and opulence and architectural splendour have vanished 
like a dream of which only the indistinct remembrance survives. 
Numerous fragments of terra cotta vases are found here, which 
preserve in all their original freshness, their imperishable red and 
black polish. It may be said of them, that they form in this 
instance, 

" nionumentum cere perennius." 

The village of Kastri consisted, in 1806, of ninety cottages. 
The inhabitants were Arnauts, who spoke both Greek and Alba- 
nian, and wore the same costume as the Galaxidiotes.f The 
huts of the poorer people consisted of one long room ; the papas 
and a few others had houses consisting of two rooms raised over 
a ground floor, which was divided into stable, cowhouscj and 
cellar 5 but even these houses were without the luxury of a chim- 
ney or glazed windows. Mr. Dodwell found the cold extremely 
piercing. The inliabitants seemed alike poor and uninformed ; 



* Sir W. Gell, however, represents the architectural fragments at Kastri to 
be so numerous as to lead one to imagine that the city was full of porticoes and 
colonnades. He mentions in particular, in the monastery, a column of blue 
marble ; also, columns of Pentelic marble, two feet five inches in diameter, 
which may have belonged to the j^reat temple ; besides various Ionic columns 
and a Doric capital See Itin. of Grtect, p. 184. 

t Dr. Clarke makes them Greeks, and adds : " Wherever Greek peasants 
are found in the villages, instead of Albanians, want and wretchedness are 
generally apparent." The real cause of this wretchedness, however, is stated 
to have been a contribution which the village had lately been laid under 
by Ali Pasha, to make up which, every thing they possessed had been seized. 
" (n its present condition," he adds, " there is not in all Lapland a more wretch- 
ed village than Kastri." The climate must make some difference. 



454 MODERN GREECE. 

yet, Kastri had its school, and most of them could both read and 
wi'ite. Sugar was to them a novel luxury, and the power of 
India rubber in effacing some pencil lines, excited their suspicion 
of magic. The Kastriote women are described as combining 
with fine figures, handsome profiles, good teeth and large black 
eyes ; in short, as distinguished by " native beauty and unadorn- 
ed elegance." Mr. Dodwell was fortunate enough to purchase of 
the villagers eighty coins, some of great rarity. Below the vil- 
lage, there is a very remarkable echo. 

Opposite to Delphi, and visible from it, there is a cave in 
Moant Kirphis (now called Zimeno), which attracted our Tra- 
veller's attention. It is fabled to have been the abode of an 
enormous monster named Lamia and Sybaris, who devoured 
men and flocks, but was at length destroyed by a certain Eury- 
bates. In descending from the Castalian spring towards the 
glen of the Pleistos, some large masses of rock are seen not far 
below the monastery, which have evidently been detached from 
Parnassus, " and are, no doubt, the same that fell upon the 
army of Xerxes, according to the testimony of Herodotus and 
Diodorus. Pausanias and Justin relate, that they fell when 
Brennus was before Delplii, and detstroyed great part of his 
army." The son of the papas pointed out one of the largest of 
these masses, and said it was lov AjcoIXcotos rj xadeSga — the 
chair of Apollo. At the bottom of the glen, the Castalian stream 
forms a small cascade, and in a few paces, enters the Pleistos, near 
the remains of a bridge. Three quarters of a mile to the east 
of the fount, another stream gushes out of the side of Parnassus, 
and after turning some mills in its rapid descent, swells the wa- 
ters of the same river. Having forded the rapid current, Mr. 
Dodwell, not without some difficulty, made his way through 
marshy ground and olive-plantations, and up the rugged side of 
the mountain, to the object of his curiosity, which ill repaid his la- 
bour. It is a natural cavern about forty feet deep, and contains 
only a few fragments of loose wall, which constitute a rustic 
Greek chapel. It bears the singular appellation of the Cave of 
Jerusalem. 

Mr. Dodwell was prevented from visiting the Corycian cave, 
by a heavy fall of snow which covered the mountain. We are 
indebted to another English Traveller, Mr. Raikes, for a de- 
scription of this interesting natural curiosity. 



MODERN GREECE. 455 



THE CORYCIAN CAVE. 



About two hours from Kastri, on the road to Livadia, is the 
large Greek village of Rachova or Aiakoba, situated on the 
sloping side of Parnassus, famous for its wine, and more remarka- 
ble for the longevity oi its inhabitants.* Here there is a cavern 
with a church in the interior, and a magnificent evergreen oak 
near its mouth, but no traces of any ancient site. From the 
^illage, the view extends over the flat summits of Kirphis to the 
Corinthian Gulf, and the mountains of Achaia are seen over- 
topped by the snowy peaks of the Arcadian range. The de- 
clivity of the mountain is cultivated with an industry " worthy of 
Switzerland," every spot of vegetable soil being covered with 
low vines. " The shallow soil is sometimes interrupted by great 
masses of rock which rear themselves above the surface ; and 
the careful husbandman, unwilling to loose the corner on which 
he must otherwise have heaped the loose stones gathered from 
the rest of the field, had raised them in pyramids on these 
masses." The vineyards are soon passed, and the ascent be- 
comes more and more steep, until, in an hour from Arracoba, 
the traveller is surprised to find himself at the entrance of a Vv^ide 
plain of considerable extent and under cultivation, v/here he 
might expect to see nothing but rocks and snow. High above 
this wide level, the ridges of Parnassus rise on the north and 
east, covered with snow and hidden in clouds. The plain, Mr. 
Raikes says, cannot be less than four or five miles across. A 
large, dull-looking village is placed in the middle of it, and a 
lake with banks most beautifully broken is seen on the left.f The 
view to the southward is very extensive and striking. Mount 
Kirphis is seen to terminate in a flat table land well cultivated 
and studded with villages, and the mountains of the Morea fill 
up the distance. 

" We rode across the plain towards the north," continues Mr. 
Raikes, " and leaving our horses at the foot of the ascent which 
bounded it, climbed up a steep and bushy slope to the mouth 
of the Corycian Cave. I had been so repeatedly disappointed 

* This village was burned by Mustafa Pasha in 1823 See p. 135. It con- 
tained in 1800, 250 houses, iniiabited by Albanians and Greeks. 

t This lake and another near it are supposed to be the reservoirs of the 
Castalian spring, which increases till the month of May. The lake itself is 
much diminished in summer. In the way to the cave, two streams are passed 
at their junction ; one, called Terginiki, rises at once from a large hole at the 
foot of the rock : the other rises in the same manner from a rock called Kou- 
jihio Litho. Gell's Ilin. p. 190. 



456 MODERN GREECE. 

with scenes of this kind, — they had so generally appeared 
inferior to the descriptions given of them, that I expected to 
meet with the same reverse here, and to find nothing but a dark, 
narrow vault. I was, however, to be for once, agreeably sur- 
prised. The narrow and low entrance of the cave, spread at 
once into a chamber 330 feet long, by nearly 200 wide. The 
stalactites from the top hung in the most graceful forms, the 
whole length of the roof, and fell, like drapery, down the sides. 
The depth of the folds was so vast, and the masses thus sus- 
pended in the air were so great, that the reUef and fulness of 
these natural hangings, were as complete as the fancy could 
hav^e wished. They were not, like concretions or incrustations, 
mere coverings of the rock ', they were the gradual growth of 
ages, disposed in the most simple and majestic forms, and , so 
rich and large, as to accord with the size and loftiness of the 
cavern. The stalagmites below and on the sides of the cham- 
ber, were still more fantastic in their forms, than the pendants 
above, and struck the eye with a fancied resemblance of vast 
human figures. 

" At the end of this great vault, a narrow passage leads down 
a wet slope of rock. With some difficulty, from the slippery 
nature of the ground on which I trod, I went a considerable way 
on, until I came to a place where the descent grew very steep ; 
and my light being nearly exhausted, it seemed best to return. 
On my way back, I found, half buried in the clay, on one side 
of the passage, a small antique patera, of the common black and 
red ware. The incrustation of the grotto had begun to appear ; 
but it was unbroken, and I was interested in finding this simple 
relic of the homage once paid to the Corycian Nymphs by the 
ancient inhabitants of the country. The stalagmitic formations 
on the entrance of this second passage, are wild as imagination 
can conceive, and of the most brilliant whiteness. 

" It would not require a fancy lively as that of the ancient 
Greeks, to assign this beautiful grotto as a residence to the 
Nymphs. The stillness which reigns through it, broken only 
by the gentle sound of the water which drops from the points of 
tlie stalactites (the vdaz' devaovTa of the grotto of the Nymphs 
in the Odyssey), the dim light admitted by its narrow entrance, 
and reflected by the white ribs of the roof, with all the miracu- 
lous decorations of the interior, would impress the most insensi- 
ble with feelings of awe, and lead him to attribute the influence 
of the scene to the presence of some supernatural being. An 
inscription which still remains on a mass of rock, near the en- 



MODERN GREECE. 457 

ti-ance, marks that the cavern has been dedicated to Pan and the 
Nymphs."* 

The Cave is called by the natives Sarand'' AuU, the Forty 
Courts, and they say it will contain three thousand persons. It 
was notorious as a place of rendezvous lor the robbers of Par- 
nassus. The fortified cave of Odysseus must be the counterpart 
of the Corycian, only still more inaccessible. The distance 
from Arracoba is two hours, or four from Kastri ; but the direct 
road from Delphi, by which Pausanias ascended to it, was only 
10 stadia in length, or about eight miles and a half; and this 
road, Sir W. Gell says, may yet be traced from the western 
gate of the ancient city. 

The most minute and interesting description of this celebrated 
mountain is given by Dr. Clarke, who ascended its summit in 
jproceeding from Kastri to Velitza. 

ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF PARNASSUS. 

At nine o'clock, A. M. (Dec. 16), he set out from Arracoba 
with four guides, and in an hour, " after having surmounted the 
first precipices, found a large Crater, with a village in it, called 
Kallidia or Callithea, the summer residence of the Arracovians, 
who cultivate the plaiir at the bottom of this crater, and, during 
the hottest part of the year, come hither to collect its harvest. 
Thence, turning from the former line of our ascent (which had 
been towards Delphi), we proceeded, " he continues, '' in an 
opposite direction, and, after two hours' progress, looked down 
from a great height, upon Arracovia. At twelve, we found the 
thermometer had fallen to 44^ Fahr. Presently we came to 
another plain, with a well in it, full of clear water. Here we 
halted and regaled ourselves with bread and wine. It now be- 
gan to be cold ; the road being as before, steep, but admitting 
the horses to follow us the whole way. At this place, also, 
vegetation began to disappear. Thence, climbing the mountain 
on its north-eastern side, we found it bleak, and destitute of 
herbage : higher up, we passed through snow, lying in patches. 
At length, we reached a small plain upon the top of the moun- 
tain, and also in the bottom of a crater, containing a pretty large 
pool, frozen over. In this respect, the summit of this mountain 
resembles that of the Kader Idris in Wales. The sides of the 
crater, rising in ridges around this plain, are the most elevated 
points of Parnassus. We climbed the highest of them which 

* Walpole's Memoirs, pp. 312 — 14. 



45$ MODERN GREECE. 

was upon our left hand, but with great difficulty, as the sides 
were a glacier covered with hard and slippery ice, and our fin- 
gers in spite of our exertions, were benumbed. At last, however, 
we reached the utmost peak, and having gained a footing upon its 
top, stood in pure ether ; for, although there were clouds below, 
we had not one above us. It was now two o'clock p. m. If 
the wind had blown from the north, we could not have remained 
an instant in this icy region. Even with a soft breeze from the 
west, we had no sooner exposed our thermometer, than the 
mercury fell 2° below the freezing point. 

" Having been for years engaged in visiting the tops of moun- 
tains, the Author mu^t still confess, that he never saw any thing 
to compare with the view which he beheld from the summit of 
Parnassus. He possessed no other means of ascertaining its 
elevation, than by attending to the objects visible in the horizon, 
but he believes it to be one of the highest mountains in Europe. 
The Gulf of Corinth had long looked like an ordinary lake, and 
it was now reduced to a pond. Towards the north, beyond all 
the plain of Thessaly, appeared Olympus with its many tops, 
clad in shining snow, and expanding its vast breadth distinctly to 
the view. The other mountains of Greece, like the surface of 
the ocean in a rolling calm, rose in vast heaps ; but the eye 
ranged over every one of them. Helicon was one of these, and 
it is certainly inferior in height to Parnassus. One of the prin- 
cipal mountains in the Morea, now called Tricala,* made a great 
figure in that mountainous territory : it was covered with snow, 
even the lower ridges not being destitute of it. We looked 
down upon Achaia, Argolis, Elis, and Arcadia, as upon a model. 
Almost every part of the horizon was clear excepting the east, 
north-east, and north-west ; our view being obstructed towards 
the ^gean and Mount Athos, as well as towards Epirus, by our 
being above the clouds, which concealed every olyect towards 
those points, although the day proved remarkably favorable for 
our undertaking in other respects. The frost was, however, so 
piercing that we were in haste to conclude our observations. f 

The summit and all the higher part of Parnassus are of lime- 
stone, containin'g veins of marble and a great quantity of a blue 
lumachella wherein are embedded very large entrochi. The 
surprising apped!rance of such shells at this enormous elevation, is 

* The guides said, that this mountain was near Patras : it must be a summit 
of Panachaikon. 

t The following bearings were taken by the compass. Acrocorinthus, due S. 
Helicon, S.E. and by S. Hymettus, S.E. JNegropont, S.E. and by E. Olym"^ 
pus, N. and by E. Tricala, S.W. and by S- Galaxidi, W.S.W. 



arODERN GREECE. 459 

very remarkable. We round them upon the highest peak and 
over all the mountain.* But all the limestone of Parnassus is not 
thus characterised. In places where die melting snow had dis- 
closed the naked rock, we observed the most remarkable effect 
of weathering that, as far as ou!- knowledge extends, has ever 
been noticed. A spontaneous decomposition of the stone had 
taken place ; and this had occasioned rifts and fissures to a con- 
siderable depth. We have described all the higher region of 
Parnassus as bleak and destitute of herbage. A few rare plants, 
however, may be noticed here and there, even to its very peak ; 
and those Alpine herbs are often characterised by woolly leaves. 
We found the Alpine daphne sprouting through the snow and 
ice, quite up to the summit. We also collected specimens of a 
pine belonging to the same species as the balm of Gilead and the 
silver fir, but most resembling the latter. f 

" We began to descend the north-west side of the mountain, 
having ascended by the side facing the south-east. Soon after 
leaving the summit, our guides pointed to one of the lower ridges 
which commanded our passage down, and to which they gave 
the name of Lugari or Lycari ; perhaps the Lycorea of Pausa- 
nias.f The peasants in the plains of Boeotia call the whole 
mountain by the name of Lakura ; but those who reside upon 
Parnassus still retain among them its ancient name, calling the 
heights by a general appellation, Parnassu, and one of the ridges 
in particular, Lugari. In our way down, our course afterwards 
bore towards the east. At seven o'clock p.m., in a woody region 
of the mountain (about three-fourths of the journey down), we 
arrived at the monastery of the Virgin of Jerusalem, beautifully 
embowered in the midst of pine-groves, overlooking the moun- 

* Similar phenomena were noticed by Burckhardt upon the summit of Mount 
Lebanon. 

t Dr. Clarke enun'iCrates the following plants in a note, Daphne Mpina. 
Polentilla speciosa. Campanula rupeslris. Finns balsamea. P picea Eu- 
phorbia myrsinites. Dryopis spinosa. A very beautiful species of Cineraria. 
A new species of Cherleria, called by tlie Author, stellala. Dr. Sibthorpe, who 
ascended the summit of Parnassus in June 1794, collected many curious plants 
on the sides of the precipices, but found few which could strictly be calle<l Al- 
pine : " those of the higliest region would only be regarded as sub-alpine." 
In a third attempt to reach the summit, however, he met with several plants 
he had not before noticed. His account is very indistinct and imperfect. See 
Walpole's Memoirs, p. 67, &c. ; and List of Plants, ibid. p. 235. 

t The village of Lyakoura is about three hours from Kastri. It is deserted 
in winter on account of the snow, the inhabitants then descending to the neigh- 
bouring villages. " I spoke to some of the peasants of Lykoura," says Mr. 
Dodwell, " who informed me that their village possessed considerable traces 
of antiquity. The ancient Lykoreia was founded at the time of Deucalion's 
deluge, about 1503 B.C. One of the earliest names of Parnassus was Ly- 
koreia." 



460 MODERN GREECE. 

tains of the Locri and the Dryopes, and the extensive plains 
watered by the Cephissus. This monastery contained fifty ca- 
loyers,* who expressed more astonishment at our coming, and 
seemed more inquisitive, than any we had before seen in Greece ; 
but their state of ignorance did not differ from that of the other 
wild tenants of their lofty wilderness. Their order is that of St. 
Basil. There is, in fact, no other order among the Greeks. 
They profess chastity and obedience. Their way of living is 
very austere ; for they abstain wholly from flesh. Most of their 
time is taken up in barbarous devotional ceremonies, either in a 
recitation, against time, of the Psalter, or in bowing and kissing 
the ground -, nor is it possible to conceive that a Cree Indian, 
capering before his idol in the vsUds of North America, exhibits a 
more abject debasement of human intellect, than one of these 
caloyers in the exercise of his f^azavoiai (bowings), three hundred 
of which he is obliged to perform every twenty-four hours. The 
one half of those bowings they perform in the first two hours of 
the night, and the other half at midnight, before they rise to ma- 
tins, which are to begin four hours before day, and to end with 
the dawning of the morning. In summer time, the day breaks 
upon them, and the sun rises before their devotions are ended ; 
so that they have scarcely the time and liberty of convenient and 
natural repose. These devotions are evidently heathen ceremo- 
nies, and the services are also almost heathen. A traveller might 
have found the same mummery practised two thousand years 
ago. Judging, indeed, from these vigils, wherein all their devo- 
tion appears to consist, the religion of Christ seems to be as 
foreign to those who call themselves its ministers, as if it had 
never existed ; for, with the exception of now and then a hymn 
sung in honour of the Virgin, or upon the festival day of some 
saint, nothing connected with the history of Christianity or its 
worship seems to have been introduced. 

" Being curious to know whether such a thing as a Bible, or 
even a copy of any one of the Gospels in their own language, 
existed among them, we asked permission to examine the books 
of their church ; but they had none, nor were any of them able 
to read ; neither had they any library or manuscripts belonging 
to the n^onastery. Yet, when we spoke of the cheirographa 
found in the monastery at Patmos, they seemed perfectly to un- 
derstand us, and said, that there were many such in the monas- 
tery of St. Luke." 

The next day, on leaving the monastery, the learned Traveller 

* " A name derived either from KaXos Jspevs, good priest, or from KoKoyc^aioi, 
good old fathers." 



MODERN GREECE. 461 

set out in a N.W. direction, descending the side of the moun- 
tain for half an hour. At the end of two miles and a half, he 
passed a ruined village called Neocorio, and in an hour and a half, 
the village of St. Mary's with a fountain. Continuing along the 
base of the mountain, he passed two very large pits, on the edge 
of each of which was a tumulus, and beyond them, the founda- 
tions of a square structure built of large blocks. This place is 
now called the Giant's Leap ; for what reason, does not appear. 
Presently he came to another tumulus, upon which a Turkish 
sepulchre has been constructed ; and alter passing the bed of the 
torrent Cachales (now called xaxo-gev/ia, the bad stream), saw 
some more sepulchres hewn in the rock. A little further, the 
walls of the ancient Tithorea are seen, " extending in a surpris- 
ing manner up the prodigious precipice of Parnassus, which 
rises behind the village of Velitza. Their remains are visible to 
a considerable height upon the rocks, and even one of the mural 
turrets. In this precipice, above the ruins, there is a cavern, 
concerning which marvellous stories are told by the peasants. 
The water of the Cachales was rushing in a furious torrent down 
the steep : it appeared of a milky colour, owing to the calcareous 
matter with which it was impregnated. 

" Delphi and Tithorea, on different sides of the mountain, 
were the halting-places of those passing over Parnassus, at the 
distance of 80 stadia from each other ;* being situate as the 
towns of Aoste in Piedmont and Martinach in the Vallais, are 
with regard to Mount St. Bernard. The whole district on the 
southern side was Delphic ; while all the country on the north- 
ern side was called Tithorea. The olives of that city was so 
highly celebrated, that they were conveyed as presents to the 
Roman emperors : they still maintain their ancient reputation, 
being sent as an acceptable offering to the pashas, and other 
grandees of Turkej'-.f The village of Velitza (Belutza) con- 
tains about eighty houses. The chief produce of the land is 
wine, cotton, and corn : the wine is excellent. They are at 
present in a most wretched condition, owing to the extortions of 
Ali Pasha, or of those who have plundered in his name. In the 
short space of six months, they had paid to his tax-gatherers, as 
they told us, eighty purses ; a sum equivalent to 40,000 piastres. 
Poverty is very apparent in their dwellings ; but the cottages of 
Phocis are generally as much inferior to those of Boeotia, as the 
latter are to those of Attica. Nor can it be otherwise where 

* Sir W. Gell thinks this must be an error. 

t No olive-trees are now found in the immediate vicinity of Velitza, though 
the oil of this place was anciently esteemed the best in Greece. 



462 MODERN GREECE. 

the wretched inhabitants are so oppressed by their lords. The 
whole earnings of the peasant ars here taken from him : he is 
scarcely allowed any means of subsistence. Add to this the 
frequent calamities of sickness and fii'e ; and plague, pestilence, 
and famine will be found to have done their work. This village 
had been twice burned within one year by banditti. As one 
source of consolation in the midst of so much misery, the inhab- 
itants told us, they had no Turks resident among them.* 

Tithoreaf began to decline soon after the Christian era. la 
the time of Pausanias, though in a state of decay, it contained a 
theatre, a forum (or agora), and the grove, temple, and statue of 
Minerva. At the distance of eighty stadia, there was a temple 
of iEsculapius, and at forty stadia from that temple, was a peri- 
bolus containing an adytum or sanctuary of Isis. Dr. Clarke 
was unable to discover the theatre, but he found the forum, — " a 
square structure built in the Cyclopean style, of large masses of 
stone, laid together with great evenness and regularity, but with- 
out any cement," The walls are of the third and fourth styles, 
and are fortified with square towers in good preservation, ap- 
proaching the angular construction, and apparently less ancient 
than the other parts of the wall. 

On descending from Velitza, Dr. Clarke again crossed the 
Cachales, and, in less than an hour reached an ancient site to 
the left of the road, called Palaio-Thiva or Theba. The indis- 
tinct traces of walls are alone discernible. Dr. Clarke conjec- 
tures that Ledon may have stood here ; a city abandoned in the 
time of Pausanias. About an hour to the east, on the other side 
of the Cephissus, is the village of Turco-chorio, which contains a 
mosque and a Greek population, and has been erroneously sup- 
posed to occupy the site of Elateia, the largest city in Phocis, 
next to Delphi ; but it contains no ruins ; and ' the name of 
Elateia is evidently preserved in that of the village of Eleuta 
(pronounced Elevta), which stands on its ruins, two hours and 
ten minutes E.N.E. of Tithorea. 

" The ruins of Elateia," Mr. Dodwell says, " are situated at 
the foot of some hills which unite with the chain of Cnemis and 
CEta. Its position was well adapted for securing the narrow 
passes that lead from the Epicnemidian and Opuntian Locris into 
this part of Greece. The Acropolis was on an elevation of 

* Clarke's Travels, vol. vii. pp. 270 — 80. 

t The most ancient name of the city was Neon. Tithorea is plausibly de- 
rived by Bryant from Tith-Or, the mountain of Orus or Apollo. The Egyptian 
solemnities observed here in honour of Isis, favour this etymology. — See 
Clabk£'s Travels, vol. vii. Svo. p. 280. 



MODERN GREECE. 4G3 

moderate height, and, from the few remains of walls, appears to 
have been constructed in the rude Tirynthian style. Elateia was 
a place of considerable strength and importance, and, though 
hurned by the Persians, it afterwards rose into power, and was 
enabled successfully to resist the attacks of Cassander, and sub- 
sequently of Taxiles, the general of Mithridates. The principal 
objects at Elateia worthy of attention in the time of Pausanias 
were, the agora, the sepulchral stele of Elatos, (the supposed 
founder,) a temple of jEsculapius, and a theatre, of which some 
small remains may be seen." He mentions also, at the distance 
of twenty stadia, a temple of Minerva Kranaia, the ruins which 
are found at about that distance from the modern village. Pro- 
ceeding in a northern direction by a gentle ascent, Mr. Dodwell 
reached, in half an hour, a church with some blocks about it, 
and a large broken vase, apparently the ancient receptacle of a 
fountain that here issues from the rock. In a quarter of an honr 
further, he arrived at the ruins of the temple, situated precisely 
as Pausanias describes it, on a steep rock of inconsiderable height 
and dimensions, surrounded with a peribolus, the southern side 
of which is supported by a terrace wall of great antiquity, com- 
posed of eleven layers of stones. " The temple itself was of 
smaller dimensions than the Theseion at Athens, and built upon 
the same plan. The lower parts of four columns are yet stand- 
ing : they are of stone, and fluted Doric, two feet seven inches 
in diameter. A church has been erected on the spot. The 
view from hence over the plain of Elateia is very fine. 

Dr. Clarke proceeded direct from Velitza to Dadi, in a direc- 
tion more to the N.W., crossing over a projecting foot of Par- 
nassus, and passing, by a bridge, a river called Karafpotami, 
" Madam's river." Dadi is described as a large Greek town, 
containing 700 houses and some good shops : it is built in a the- 
atrical form upon a series of terraces facing the plain of the 
Cephissus. A hill beyond the town, where now stands a small 
church, has been anciently surrounded with walls, and one of the 
" mural turrets" is yet standing. Dr. Clarke thinks it must have 
been a place of great consideration ; " probably Amphiclea."* 
From this place, he descended along an ancient military 
way, passing an aqueduct and ancient fountain, into the plain of 
Elateia. He crossed the Cephissus by a bridge of five arches, 
and shortly leaving it to the right, began to ascend a part of the 



* Sir. W. Gell supposed Dadi to be Drymeea, the ruins of which Mr. Dod- 
well places at a.palaio-kastro and ancient site, an hour and twenty minutes fur- 
ther northward. 



464 MODERN GREECE. 

CEtean range, (supposed to be the ancient Callidromus,) which 
bounds the plain on the north. Here, he noticed foundations of 
ruined walls on the left ; higher up, on the right, a ruin called 
the church of St. John ; and still higher, a mosque and ruined 
village called Mergenari. Thence, a very bad road leads to the 
summit of the narrow pass, where a magnificent view suddenly 
presented itself, extending over the whole of the Maliac Gulf, 
which looked like a lake in the vast depth below. Upon the 
right, projected the Censean promontory of Eubcea. Towards 
the left, extended in many a wavy line and sinuous projection, the 
summits and shores of Thessaly. Below, the towers of Bodo- 
nitza were seen upon a lofty conical hill rising among the 
craggy summits of the mountain, crowned with forests of oak 
and pine. 

Bodonitza (or Pontonitza) is supposed by the learned Travel- 
ler to occupy the site of Thronium.* There is a modern for- 
tress here, and there are remains of ancient walls below the hill 
on which it stands ; but there are no antiquities, although the 
place must always have been an important bulwark in guarding 
this defile. Continuing (the next day) to descend by the ancient 
paved way, our Traveller suddenly found himself, at the end of 
an hour, in a small plain surrounded with mountains, just before 
the descent to the narrowest part of the defile falls oiF abruptly 
by a steep and uninterrupted declivity. Here, close to the an- 
cient way upon the right, is an ancient tumulus, upon which are 
broken remains of a massive square pedestal, consisting of large 
blocks of red marble breccia, encrusted with a brown lichen. 
Being the only tomb that occurs in the whole of this defile, and 
corresponding precisely in its situation to the description given by 
Herodotus, there can be no doubt. Dr. Clarke says, that this is 
the polyandrium erected in memory of those heroes who fell at 
Thermopylae, whereon were placed five stela, one of which con- 
tained the " thrilling epitaph," thus rendered by the learned 
Traveller : 

" To Lacedaemon's sons, O stranger, tell, 
That here, obedient to their laws, we fell." 

The descent now becomes rapid, and the military way, which 
leads through thick woods, is in many places broken up by tor- 
rents, as described by Strabo. In about three quarters of an 



* Nothing can be more uncertain than these conjectures Sir W. Gell says ; 
" it might rather be Calliarus." Some have erroneously supposed it to be 
Opus ; and " something may be said," we are told, in favour of its being 
Cnemis. 



MODERN GREECE. 4GG 

hour, the traveller reaches the remains of the ancient wall which 
formerly extended along the chain of CEta, from the Maliac Gulf 
to that of Corinth,* forming the barrier of Hellas Proper towards 
ffitolia and Thessaly : it is composed of large and rudely-shaped 
stones, and put together without cement. Immediately beyond 
this wall, is a fountain overshadowed by an enormous plane-tree, f 
on leaving which the traveller enters upon a narrow, paved, 
causeway, having on each side a deep and impassable morass, 
bounded, towards tiie east, by the sea, and on the west, by the 
precipices of CEta. On a small narrow bridge, which marks the 
most important point of the passage, there is a Turkish derveni, 
still, as in ancient times, guarded by sentinels ; and a little fur- 
ther on are the hot springs, once sacred to Hercules, and still 
known by their ancient name [Thermal), from which this defile 
received its illustrious name. 

THERM0PYLJ3. 

These springs are about half way between Bodonitza and 
Zeitoun. They issue principally from two mouths at the foot of 
the limestone precipices of CEta. The temperature, in the 
month of December, was found to be 111° of Fahrenheit. J The 
water is very transparent, but deposits a calcareous concretion 
(carbonate of lime), vvhich adheres to reeds and sticks, like the 
waters of the Anio at Tivoli, and the sulphurous lake between that 
place and Rome. A large extent of surface is covered with this 
deposite. It is impregnated with carbonic acid, lime, muriate of 
soda, and sulphur. The ground about the springs yields a hol- 
low sound like that within the crater of the Solfatara near Na- 
ples. In some places. Dr. Clarke observed cracks and fissures 
filled with stagnant water, through which a gaseous fluid was 
rising in large bubbles to the surface, its fetid smell bespeaking 
it to be sulphuretted hydrogen. The springs are very copious, 
and immediately form several rapid streams running into the sea, 
which is apparently about a mile from the pass. Baths were 
built here by Herodes Atticus. The defile or strait continues 
for some distance beyond the hot springs, and then the road, 
which is still paved in many places, bears off" all at once across 
the plain to Zeitoun, distant three hours from Thermopylce. 

* A distance of twenty-four leagues. 

f It was at this fountain, Dr. Clarke supposes, that the Persian horsemea 
sent forward by Xerxes, saw the Spartans of the advanced guard under Leo« 
»idas, occupied in combing their hair, or in gymnastic exercises. 

i Dr. Holland found it to be lOS? or 104<? at the mouth of the fissures. 
59 



466 MODERN GREECE. 

Near the springs, there are faint traces of a wall and circular 
tower, composed of a thick mass of small stones, and apparently 
not of high antiquity. The foot of the mountain, however, Mr. 
Dodwell says, is so covered with trees and impenetrable bushes 
as to hide any vestiges which may exist of early fortifications. 
Herodotus says, that the wall built by the Phocians as a protec- 
tion against the inroads of the Thessalians, was near the spring, 
and that it was formerly occupied by gates. This wall was sub- 
sequently repaired by the Greeks, at the time of the Persian 
invasion ; was at a later period renewed and fortified by Antio- 
chus, when defending himself against the Romans ; and lastly, 
was restored by Justinian when that monarch sought to secure 
the tottering empire by iortresses and walls : he is stated also to 
have constructed cisterns here, for the reception of rain-water. 
The question is, whether this be the site of the ancient wall, as 
Dr. Holland and Mr. Dodwell suppose, or whether the spring 
referred to by Herodotus be not the fountain mentioned by Dr. 
Clarke, who describes the wall, not as traversing the marsh, but 
as extending along the mountainous chain of ffita from sea to 
sea. The cisterns built by Justinian would hardly be in the 
marshy plain, but must be looked for within the fortified pass. 
The topography of this part requires, however, to be more dis- 
tinctly elucidated. Out of six celebrated rivers which discharg- 
ed themselves into the sea, in the vicinity of Thermopylae, only 
three can at present be identified with any degree of certainty : 
these are the Boagrius, the Asopus, and the Spercheius. The 
other three were the Melas, the Dyras, and the Phoenix. 

" We know from Strabo," remarks Mr. Dodwell, " that all 
this coast has been greatly changed by the violent efforts of na- 
ture ; and it is probable, that, since the time of the Geographer, 
the features of the country have been undergoing a gradual but 
unremitting alteration. The marshes have gained considerably 
on the sea, while the rivers which discharge themselves into the 
Maliac Gulf, continually rolling great quantities of earth, have 
formed long, low projections to a considerable distance from 
their mouths. The intermediate pools are every day more 
choked with sand and mud, which, in process of time, will pro- 
bably be converted into marshy ground, and afterwards into 
cultivated land. Even the Cenoeum promontory may, in the 
course of ages, become united with the Thessalian shoi-e." 

It is very probable, however, that a more accurate examina- 
tion of the spot will shew, that the accuracy of Herodotus and 
Strabo has been somewhat too hastily arraigned, and that the 
changes have been less considerable than this author represents. 



MODERN GREF.CP:. 467 

" It is certain," remarks Dr. Holland, " that, as far back as the 
time of Herodotus, a morass formed one of the boundaries of 
the pass even in its narrowest part ; and it appears from his 
account, that the Phocians had artilicially increased this, by allow- 
ing the water from the hot-springs to spread itself over the sur- 
face, with the view of rendering the passage yet more impracti- 
cable to their restless neighbours, the Thessalians. From the 
later descriptions of Liv}^ and Pausanias, it is probable, that, 
before their time, this swampy plain had extended itself, and 
become more neaily resembling its present state." 

Formidable as this pass may seem, it has never opposed an 
eifectual barrier to an invading army, the strength of these Gates 
of Greece being rendered vain by the other mountain routes 
which avoid them. " The Persians," Procopius says, " found 
only one path over the mountains : now, there are many, and 
large enough to admit a cart or chariot." A path was pointed 
out to Dr. Clarke, to the north of the hot-springs, which is still 
used by the inhabitants in journeying to Salona. " After follow- 
ing this path to a certain distance, another road branches fiom it 
toward the south-east, according to the route pursued by the 
Persians upon that occasion." Dr. Holland ascended Mount 
(Eta by " a route equally singular and interesting, but difficult 
and not free from danger." - After skirting for a mile or two 
along the foot of the high cliffs which extend westward from the 
pass, and form the southern boundary of the valley, he turned 
into a path winding upwards along a deep and thickly wooded 
recess in the mountains, through which a stream flowed towards 
the sea, which he supposes to be, " if not indeed the Asopiis, 
either the Dyras or the Melas." Turning then to the right, and 
rapidly ascending for nearly an hour, he came to the very edge 
of the cliffs which overhang the valley ; lofty, precipitous, and 
rugged, yet clothed with a rich profusion of wood. The view 
from this point, of the plains of the Spercheius, of the Bay, and 
of the chain of Othrys was very magnificent. He now turned 
southward into the mountains by a rapid ascent, and reached to- 
wards evening, the miserable village of Leuterochorioj, situa- 
ted on a very lofty mountain-level, " probably that formerly 
inhabited by the CEnianes," but below the highest summits of 
(Eta. 

When the Gauls under Brennus invaded Greece, the treach- 
erous discovery made to him of a path through the mountains, 
compelled the Greeks to retreat, to prevent their being taken in 
rear. Antiochus was in like manner forced to retreat with pre- 
cipitation on seeing the heights above the pass occupied by 



468 MODERN GREECE, 

Roman soldiers, who, under the command of M. Porcius CatOy 
had been sent round to seize these positions. In the reign of 
Justinian, the army of the Huns advanced to Thermopylae, and 
discovered the path over the mountains. When the Sultan 
Bajazet entered Greece towards the close of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, there appears to have been little need of these artifices : a 
Greek Bishop is stated to have conducted the Mohammedan 
conquerors through the Pass, to enslave his country. During 
the present revolution, Thermopylae has never opposed any 
serious barrier against the progress of the Turkish forces. The 
passes of Callidromus and Cnemis were disputed on one occa- 
sion with success by a body of armatoles under Odysseus ; but 
they have since then been repeatedly suffered to cross the ridges 
of Othrys and (Eta without opposition. 

We have now conducted the reader to the northern boundary 
of Ancient Hellas in this direction ; and our contracting limits 
admonish us to hasten back to the point from which we started, 
that we may with as much speed as possible transport him to the 
once-glorious plains of Attica. 

FROM DELPHI TO ATHENS. 

On leaving Kastri, Mr. Dodwell (to whose route we shall 
adhere) proceeded eastward through Arracoba* to Distomo, a 
village containing about 1 50 houses, built chiefly with the frag- 
ments of large blocks of a dark-coloured stone, extracted from 
the surrounding ruins of an ancient city, the ancient Ambrysos. 
The inhabitants are Greeks and Arnauts. The acropolis occu- 
pied a round hill a lew hundred feet to the north of the village, 
where the foundations of the wall are still discernible ; and the 
church of St. Elias probably stands on the site of a temple, 
with the ruins of which it appears to have been built. A co- 
pious fountain rises in the village, and forms a small stream which 
finds its way to a marsh a short way to the south. In the 
rocks of the acropolis are sepulchres. At two hours distance 
from Distomo, is the ancient Anticyra, now called Aspropiti.f 



* An howr and a half from Arracoba, are ruins of an ancient city on a hill, 
with a stream at its base, called Zimeno or Palaio Arakoba. A little further, 
is a spot where three roads meet, leading to Delphi, to Distomo, and to Dau- 
lis. This spot, now called Derbeni, or more generally 'Srevn, was anciently 
called Schiste. Some large blocks of stone here indicate, perhaps, the tomb 
of Laius. 

t That isj " the white house," which may allude, Mr. Dodwell thinks, to the 



MODERN GREECE. 469 

There is here a good port, which is frequented by vessels for 
corn ; and a few ruins are found on a bold promontory connec- 
ted by an isthmus with the continent. 

Distomo stands at the southern extremity of a rich plain, at 
the distance from Kastri of about five hours and a half. At rather 
more than aii hour and a haU from this place is the monastery of 
St. Luke Stiriotes, near the ruins of the ancient Stiris, out of 
which it has been built. Wheeler styles this one of the finest 
convents in all Greece. 

The monastery itself is a barbarous edifice and of an ordinary 
appearance, and the cells are very mean ; but the church is de- 
scribed by Chandler as a sumptuous fabric. " It has suffered 
greatly, as might be expected, from age and earthquakes ; and 
the outside is much encumbered and deformed by the addition 
of huge buttresses to support the walls, and by the stopping up 
of several windows, particularly those of the principal dome. 
The inside is lined with polished marble, empannelled, but some 
of the chapels have been stripped. The pavement is inlaid with 
various colours, artfully disposed. The domes are decorated 
with painting and gilding in mosaic, well executed, representing 
holy personages and scriptural stories. The gallery is illumina- 
ted with pieces of transparent marble, called phengites, fixed in 
the wall in square compartments, and shedding a yellow light ; 
but, without, resembling common stone, and rudely carved. A 
fabric thus splendid in decay, must have been, when recently fin- 
ished, exceedingly glorious. Beneath the church is an exten- 
sive vault, in which mass is celebrated on certain festivals. It is 
the cemetery of the monks. The body is enclosed in a horizon- 
tal niche, on a bier, which is taken out when wanted. The 
bones are v/ashed with wine and thrown on a heap. In the 
area are two flat tombs raised above the floor, erected, as the 
abbot informed us, over the founder, Romanus, and his em- 
press."* 

temple of Neptune which once stood here. Anticyra was proverbially famous 
for its hellebore, the root of a plant which was the chief produce of the rocky 
mountains above the city. 

* Chandler, vol. ii. c. 35. The author of some Iambic verses in praise of 
the monastery which were shown to Chandler, states this emperor to have 
been the son of Constantine Porphyrogenitiis, who was crowned in A.D 945, 
about the time that this Saint Lulie, junior, the hermit of Stiria, died. Gibbon, 
however, makes Romanus II. succeed his father not till 959 ; and he is said to 
have been poisoned by his empress in 963. Chandler has given a sketch of the 
life of this St. Luke ; but it throws little light on the foundation of the monas- 
tery. The best description of the place is given by Wheeler. He says, the 
monks possessed many manuscripts ; but those whicli he was permitted to see, 
were only ordinary ones, as of service books, saints' lives, &c. There was a 



470 MODERN GREECE. 

From Distomo, Mr. Dodwell retraced his steps to " the tomb 
of Laius," and then turned eastward into a narrow, barren glen, 
leading out into a cultivated plain ; and at the end of two hours 
and twenty-three minutes, arrived at Daulia. This is an Alba- 
nian village consisting of sixty cottages and eighteen churches ! 
These consecrated edifices were, however, for the most part 
composed only of four loose walls, formed of ancient fragments, 
and without a roof, the altar being frequently nothing more than 
either a slab of marble supported by the block of an ancient 
column, or the pedestal of a statue. " The Greek priests, as an 
expiation for great misdeeds, sometimes impose upon the peni- 
tent the construction of a church ;" and these mock-chapels are 
the result. The remains of the ancient acropolis are found on 
an oblong rock above the village, which is precipitous on all 
sides, and must have been very strong. It commands an inter- 
esting view over the rich plain of Chseroneia and Panopeus 
towards Livadia. Parnassus is seen to great advantage from 
the plain below. A road runs directly up the mountain, passing 
over it to Delphi. There are some large caverns in the rock of 
the acropolis, which are now the retreat of sheep and goats ; 
and to the west of this is a rocky hill, with a deep narrow glen, 
through which runs a stream called Platania, flowing from Par- 
nassus to join the small river called Aliphantino, when their united 
waters enter the Chaeroneian plain. Mr. Dodwell crossed this 
river in proceeding the next morning to Agios Blasios,* the an- 
cient Panopeus ; distant one hour from Daulia. Here also is a 
ruined citadel with two dilapidated churches, but no remains of 
interest.f Leaving on the right the village of Kapourna (or 
Kaprena) on the site of the "Imcient Chseroneia, Mr. Dodwell 
traversed some rich pasture-land and some barren hills ; then 
passed through some rich arable land, and, in three hours and a 
quarter, arrived at Livadia. 

This city is the head-town of a jurisdiction extending over a 
rich territory which includes the ancient Phocis, Boeotia, and 
Eubcea. It has a voivode as governor, and a kadi as judge, and 

fair MS. copy of the works of St. Chrysostom in the chamber of one of the 
fathers, who read the ancient Greek pretty well. About a mile and a half off, 
there lived (in 1676) a hermit, who seemed to be emulous of the fame of St. 
Luke, and was already esteemed a saint. Wheeler visited him, and was so 
fascinated with the beaaty and retirement of the scene as to be half inclined 
Jo turn caloyer himself! 

* Pronounced Aivlash : it is the English Saint Blase. 

t In one of these churches, Sir W. Gell says, " are curious paintings of the 
torments of the damned." He mentions also in a glen to the west of the vil- 
lage, a species of stone which, on being rubbed, emits an odour — probably the 
foetid limestone. " The story of Pyrrha and Deucalion refers to this." 



MODERN GREECE. 471 

contained in 1806, about 10,000 inhabitants, half of whom were 
Greek, and half Turkish. " The Greeks," says Mr. Dodvvell, 
" are powerful and rich. Here are six mosques, and as mnny 
principal churches : the latter are in the diocese of Athens. The 
chief commerce consists in cotton and the red dye called prinari, 
which they export to Trieste, Venice, Leghorn, Genoa, and 
sometimes England. The neighbouring plains produce silk, rice, 
tobacco, and corn : the wine is plentiful, but of the worst quali- 
ty." The winters here are intensely cold, and the summers as 
violently hot, the thermometer sometimes rising to 96° within 
doors.* It is then a very unhealthy residence, as the waters of 
Lake Kopais then stagnate in pools and swamps, sending up 
pestilential efSuvia. The plague raged here in the years 1785, 
6, for fifteen months, and destroyed about 6000 persons. The 
place is also much infested by locusts. Altogether, Livadia, 
though, from the north, it has a beautiful appearance, would 
seem to be a most uninvidng place. The city is commanded by 
a modern castle, now mouldering into decay, which was a strong- 
hold of the Turks in 1694 : it exhibits very few ancient vestiges, 
but v/as probably the site of the ancient M^deia.-j- 

Unattractive as the place is in itself, it acquires an interest from 
being pretty clearly ascertained to occupy the site of the sacred 
Grove of Trophonius. In tliis neighbourhood was the far-famed 
oracular cave, in which rose the fountains of Memory and of 
Oblivion. The scene of this imposing superstition is thus de- 
scribed by Mr. Dodwell. 

" There is a rough and stony channel behind the town, worn 
by the winter torrents. From this glen rises a precipitous rock, 
on which stands the castle. In the eastern face of the rock is an 
excavated chamber, (12 feet 9 in. by 11 feet 4 in., and 8 feet 6 
in. in height,) raised three or four feet from the present level of 
the ground, to which we ascended by steps formed by the pre- 
sent voivode, who uses it as a cool retreat in the summer. 
Within the cave, just under the roof, are still seen the remains of 
some elegant painted ornaments, particularly the funereal leaf 
which is delineated on terra cotta vases. It is probable, that 
this place contained the statues of ^sculapius and Hygeia.J 
The rock which is contiguous to the cave, is full of niches of 

* Mount Granitza, a branch of Helicon, intercepts the sun in winter, and the 
sea-breezes in summer. 

t Livadia was burned by Omer Vrionis in 1821 ; and Odysseus, in an attack 
upon the Turkish garrison, completed the destruction of the city. 

X A stone bench within this chamber, Dr. Clarke thinks, may have been the 
" throne of Mnemosyne," on which those who came from consulting the oracle 
underwent the interrogatories. 



472 - MODERN GREECE. 

various sizes for statues and votive offerings. Near this, the sacred 
fountain issues from the rock by ten small modern spouts : the 
water is extremely cold and clear. On the opposite side of the 
channel is the other fount, the water of which, though not warm, 
is of a much higher temperature. The two springs of Memory 
and Oblivion, blenj^ng their waters, pass under a modern bridge, 
and immediately form a rapid stream, the ancient Hercyna. It 
contains excellent fish of a small size, and, in its way through the 
town, turns several mills : after a course of a few miles, it enters 
the Lake Copais." 

The second spring, which, Sir W. Gell says, is still called 
Lephe, (a corruption of Lethe,) forms the principal source of 
the Hercyna. Its waters. Dr. Clarke describes as troubled and 
muddy ; and from this circumstance, as well as from the sub- 
stances found floating in it, he supposes it to be the gushing forth 
of some river from a subterraneous channel.* The lively imagi- 
nation of this Traveller has endeavoured to supply the want of 
existing data in describing this curious spot. 

" There was something," he remarks, " in the nature of the 
scenery here, which tended to excite the solemn impressions 
that were essential to the purposes of priestcraft. The votaries 
of the oracle were conducted through a grove to the hieron. 
Having reached the consecrated precincts, they could not avoid 
being struck with its gloomy and imposing grandeur. It is sur- 
rounded with rocks, bare and rugged, rising in fearful precipices 
to a great height ; the silence of the place being interrupted only 
by the roaring of waters bursting from their cavernous abyss. 
The most sacred part of the hieron, containing the narrow en- 
trance to the adytum and the receptacle for the offerings, is a 

perpendicular rock of black marble .Immediately below the 

chamber, a little towards the left hand, is the stoma or sacred 
aperture of the adytum. It is small and low, and shaped like an 
oven ; and this, Pausanias affirms to have been the form of the 
artificial masonry adapted to its mouth : it is, in fact, barely 
capacious enough to admit the passage of a man's body." The 
Author's companion succeeded in introducing himself into this 
cavity, after they had removed the rubbish from the opening, 

* This opinion was first suggested by Wheeler. " I do not," he says, 
*' call it the fountain, but tliink that some other rivers from the Helicon do 
make it rise here by a subterraneous passage under the mountains." Pausa- 
nias says, that the fountains are within the cave (KarajSao-tov ; called by Strabo, 
Xaniia) by Lucian, avriXaiov) ; but his words, Mr. Dodwell thinks, "must not 
be rigorously interpreted " Dr. Clarke thinks, that the word described the 
glen or chasm. This will hardly be deemed satisfactory. 



MODERN GREECE. 473 

but found the passage to be entirely closed at the depth of about 
six feet. 

Whether this was really the entrance, must for the present 
remain problematical. Mv. Dodwell thinks, that the entrances 
ai'e probably concealed under the present surface of the soil, 
which has the appearance of having been considerably elevated. 
The whole distance from the ancient city to the oracle, was 
covered with temples, hiera, and votive decorations. Of these 
or of the sacred grove, not a vestige is left. Higher up the 
glen, however, on the other side of the torrent, and in the face 
of a precipice, is another cave, " now a chapel, to which there 
is no ascent, except by a chain. The rock is there evidently 
artificially excavated, and there are marks in the floor, where 
columns or altars seem to have stood." This remarkable spot, 
which is mentioned by Sir W. Gell, neither Mr. Dodwell nor 
Dr. Clarke seems to have explored. " All these things," as 
Wheeler says, " want good search and examination, and are not 
easily to be found out by travellers who stay but a little while in 
a place." The subterranean wonders and oracular jugglery of 
the Trophonian cavern may possibly yet be brought to hght by 
a little expense and perseverance.* 

From Livadia, it is a distance of about five and twenty miles 
to Thebes. Fifteen miles from the former place, and ten from 
the Boeotian capital, are the ruins of the ancient Haliartus, now 
called Mikrokoura, which commanded a narrow pass between 
tlie foot of Mount Libethrius and the lake. The road now 
traverses a ridge of hills which separate the plains of the Cephis- 
sus and Copais from that of Thebes. This rocky pass is reputed 
to be the one where the Sphinx proposed to the traveller her 
perilous questions ; and there is reason to believe, that it is the 
spot to which Sophocles refers as the scene of his story. 

We must not now venture into Boeotia. It is a bleak, foggy, 
inhospitable region, and, moreover, at present quite Turkish. 

* Who Trophonius was, is as unknown as the site of his oracle. Public 
games were anciently celebrated at Libadeia in honour of this " subterranean 
divinity ;" as is proved by an inscription found by Wheeler at Megara. Yet, 
Julius Pollux is the only ancient writer who mentions them. Trophonius is 
said to have been the architect who, with his brother Agamedes, built the tem- 
ple at Delphi. Why he should have had divine honours paid to him, one can- 
not tell. The various reasons assigned for it, shew that the ancient Greeks 
were as ignorant on this point as ourselves. Anacharsis is wisely made to cut 
short the discussion by remarking, that " almost all the objects of Grecian 
worship have origins which it is impossible to discover, and unnecessary to 
discuss." (Vol. iii. p. 175.) Jacob Bryant tells us, that Trophonius " was a 
SRcred tower, toroph-on, solis pythonis turris ; an oracular temple dedicated 
to the sun, situated near a vast cavern." 

60 



474 MODERN GREECE. 

The reader must excuse us, if we do not suffer ourselves to be 
seduced from our purpose even by the venerable name of its 
capital ; of which, nevertheless, we shall find room to say some- 
thing in our description of Turkej^ Our narrow limits compel 
us also to pass over for the present, the names of Thespeia and 
Platsea. It is by a dreary and rugged pass over Mount Cithje- 
ron, that we enter Attica. Having reached one of the lower 
ridges, commanding a view of the Athenian mountains in the 
distance, the traveller descends through a narrow rocky glen, 
and at three hours from Kokla (Platsea), reaches a fountain 
called Petrokeraki, forming a small stream, which is soon lost 
among the rocks. Not far from this fount, the glen ends at the 
foot of a steep and rugged hill on the left, crowned with the 
ruins of an acropolis now called Giphto Kastro (apparently cor- 
rupted from AiyvTiTOv xadTgo'^, " probably the ancient Eleuthe- 
ria." The walls, which are very perfect, are in the style of 
those of Mantineia and Messene : they are fortified with square 
towers at unequal distances, projecting from the walls, and divided 
into two stories. Many of them are nearly entire. The walls 
of the acropolis, which are eight feet in thickness, enclose an 
area of about 360 yards by 110, within which are remains of a 
large oblong rectangular building, composed of a few layers of 
blocks of a polygonal form, which perhaps constituted the cella 
of a temple. In a plain at the eastern foot of Cithaeron, are 
heaps of blocks and traces, the remains of the lower town, to 
which this formed the citadel. Here, the roads to Athens and 
Corinth diverge. The former route now leads for three hours 
through narrow glens and a wooded tract, called Saranta Pota- 
moi (Forty Rivers), at the end of which it issues in the great 
Thriasian plain, at the head of the Eleusinian Gulf ; an arid 
level broken only by a few scattered olive-trees, some large 
balania oaks, and the projections of Mount Parnes adorned 
with firs. Crossing this long level, the traveller leaves Eleusis 
about a mile to the right, and soon enters upon the J^ia Sacra 
by which the great processions passed from Athens to the tem- 
ple of Ceres. This conducts him at first underneath the cliffs 
upon the shore ; then, by a rapid ascent, between the hills 
^galeon and Corydalus, and past the picturesque monastery of 
Daphne, occupying the supposed site of the temple of Apollo. 
Half a mile beyond this, he catches a view of the eastern part 
of the plain of Athens ; and in a few minutes, a break in the 
hills discloses to view the " ^acred city," 

" Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil ; 
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 



MODERN GREECE. 475 

And eloquence 

See there the olive-grove of Academe, 

Plato's letireraent, where the Attic bird 

Trills lier thick-warbled notes, the summer long ; 

There, flowery hill, Hymettus, with the sound 

Of bees' industrious murmUr, oft invites 

To studious musing : there Ilissus rolls 

His whispering stream."* 

ATHENS.t 

Athens, were we to attempt the illustration of its history and 
antiquities, would of itself require a volume ; but the numerous 
publications in which they are minutely described, supersede the 
necessity of our entering upon the seductive and boundless field. 
Through the publication of Stuart more especially, Sir W. Gell 
remarks, " Athens has become more knoWn than the other 
cities" — he might have said, than any other city — " of Greece." 
Research, indeed, would seem to be not yet exhausted. Mr. 
Dodweli has contributed some highly valuable illustrative matter ; 
and still, there seems scope for investigation and disquisition in- 
terminable. From the perplexities of our present task, we can 
extricate ourselves only by adhering to the brief and melancholy 
account of its present state which is furnished by the most recent 
travellers. 

In 1812, Athens could boast of a population of 12,000 souls, 
not more than a fifth part of whom were Turks ; and the constant 

* Milton Farad. Reg. b. W. 

t " To give a detailed account of every thing which has been hitherto deemed 
worthy of notice in such a city as Athens," is the remark of Dr. Clarke, (and 
we may be allowed to adopt his apology,) " would be as much a work of supere- 
rogation as to republish all the inscriptions which have been found in the place." 
Till towards the latter end of the sixteenth century, however, Athens had so 
totally ceased to attract attention, that the city was believed to have been to- 
tally destroyed. Crusius, a learned German, first endeavoured, in 1584, to 
awaken public curiosity respecting its remains and to promote investigation. 
De La Guilletiere, in 1675, was the first traveller who published a descrip- 
tion of the city and its antiquities. He was followed by Sir George Wheeler 
and Dr. Spon. During the last and the present century, the publications re- 
lating to Athens have been constantly multiplying. Chandler, who visited 
Greece in 1765, devotes thirty-eight chapters (considerably more than half) of 
his second volume to Athens and its vicinity. Much of his description, how- 
ever, is borrowed from the larger and splendid work of Stuart and Revett. Mr. 
Dodweli has devoted no fewer than 230 quarto pages to this favourite subject ; 
and Dr. Clarke, who professes to confine himself to such observations as had 
not been made by preceding travellers, occupies three chapters (upwards of 
80 pages, 8vo. edition) with his description of the city. Mr. Hobhouse has 100 
pages (4to.) upon Athens. M. Chateaubriand contents himself with about 40pages 
of sentimental description. In Sir W. Gell's Itinerary of Greece, (p. 35 — 47) 
will be found a brief and useful catalogue of the objects of chief interest. A 
learned paper on the Topography of Athens by Mr. Hawkins, is inserted in 
Walpole's Memoirs, and in the same volume are contained other communica- 
tions relating to Attica. 



476 MODERN GREECE. 

influx of foreigners gave it a more lively, social, and agreeable 
aspect than any other town in Greece. Even the Turks were 
remarked to have lost something of their harshness by coming in 
contact with so many Europeans, and to have acquired quiet 
and inoffensive habits. Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Ger- 
mans might almost always be found here ; our countrymen, 
however, generally, in a tenfold proportion to the others, and 
taking Athens as a resting-place or a centre to more extensive 
research. " From whatsoever part of Turkey the traveller may 
arrive," says Dr. Holland, " he finds himself (at Athens) coming 
to a sort of home, where various comforts may be obtained that 
are unknown elsewhere in this country. Society is more attain- 
able, and the Greek females enter into it in general with much 
less restraint than in loannina or other Greek towns." In fact, 
instead of a wretched straggling village, like Corinth, or a collec- 
tion of huts scattered among the ruins of temples, Athens pre- 
sented the appearance of " a large and flourishing town, well 
peopled, and containing many excellent houses, with various 
appendages belonging to the better stage of cultivated life." 

Such was modern Athens at the beginning of the present cen- 
tury ; but the ruthless contest which has been carried on during 
the past few years, has now left but a mass of ruins. It has been 
the scene of frightful massacre, devastating siege, and repeated 
conflicts. Mr. Waddington thus described its appearance in 1 824. 

" The modern town of Athens was never remarkable for 
beauty or regularity of construction : it has now suffered the de- 
molition of about one-third of its buildings. Many Turkish houses 
were burned by the Greeks, in the first siege of the citadel : 
many Greek houses were destroyed during the occupation of the 
place by Omer Brioni ; and many of both have fallen into the 
streets from mere humidity and neglect. The churches and 
mosques have not met with greater mercy in this religious war ; 
and even the ashes of the dead have not been allowed to repose in 
security. The spacious Turkish burial-ground at the foot of the 
Areopagus, formerly solemn and sacred, and now scattered over 
with the fragments of its monuments, and profaned by the 
insults of the conqueror, attests the fury of a revenge not to be 
satiated by blood. That part of the town which lay immediately 
under the northern or Pelasgic wall of the citadel, where the house 
of poor Lusieri will be recollected as very distinguished, has 
naturally suffered the most severely 

" The Greeks had scarcely obtained possession of the acropo- 
lis, before they made two discoveries, which could never have 
been predestined to any Mussulman. The one was a small sub- 



MODERN GREECE. 477 

terraneous chapel, underneath (or neai'ly so) the right wing of 
the PropylKum, and which appeared to have heen long filled 
with rubbish : the other was the celebrated fountain of Pan, ris- 
ing so near the north-west corner of the citadel that it was im- 
mediately enclosed by a new bastion; and being now comprehend- 
ed within the walls, it renders their defenders nearly indifferent to 
the caprices of the wind and clouds. In the midst of so much 
of devastation, I am deeply consoled in being able to add, that 
very trifling injury has been sustained by the remains of antiquity. 
The Parthenon, as the noblest, has also been the severest suffer- 
er ; for the lantern of Demosthenes, which had been much de- 
faced by the conflagration of the convent, of which it formed a 
part, has already received some repairs from the care of the 
French Vice-Consul. Any damage of the Parthenon is irrepa- 
rable. It appears that the Turks, having expended all their balls, 
broke down the south-west end of the wall of the cella in search 
of lead, and boast to have been amply rewarded for their barbarous 
labour. But this is the extent of the damage. No column has 
been overthrown, nor any of the sculptures displaced or disfigured. 
I believe all the monuments except these two, to have escaped 
unviolated by the hand of war ; but almost at the moment of the 
commencement of the Revolution, the temple of Theseus was 
touched by a flash of propitious lightning, so litrie injurious to the 
building, that we might be tempted to consider it as an omen of 
honour and victory. 

" The present miseries of the Athenians are exceeded only 
by those of the Sciots and others, who have wjfFered absolute 
slavery or expatriation ; for, amid such aggravations of living 
wretchedness, we have not a tear to waste on those who have 
perished. Three times has that unhappy people emigrated 
almost in a body, and sought refuge from the sabre among the 
houseless rocks of Salamis. Upon these occasions, I am assured, 
that many have dwelt in caverns, and many in miserable huts, 
constructed on the mountain sides by their own feeble hands. 
Many have perished, too, from an exposure to an intemperate 
climate ; many from diseases contracted through the loathsome- 
ness of their habitations ; many from Hunger and misery. On 
the retreat of the Turks, the survivors returned to their country. 
But to what a country did they return ! To a land of desolation, 
and famine ; and, in fact, on the first re-occupation of Attica, 
after the departure of Omer Brioni, several persons are known 
to have subsisted for some time on grass, till a supply of corn 
reached the Peiraeus from Syra and Hydra." 

" In my daily rides among the mountains and villages, I ob- 



478 MODERN GREECE. 

served little else than distress and poverty. The villages are half 
burned and half deserted ; the peasants civil, but suspicious ; 
the convents abandoned or defaced, and their large massive gates 
shattered with musket-baUs ; while human bones may sometimes 
be discovered bleaching in the melancholy solitude. In the 
mean time, there is no appearance of depression or indolence. 
A great portion of the ground is cultivated, and crops are sown, 
in the uncertainty who may reap them " for the immortal gods ;" 
the olives, too, and the vineyards, are receiving almost the 
same labour which would be bestowed upon them in a time of 
profound peace. 

" In the city, the bazar exhibits a scene of some animation ; 
and, owing to the great influx of refugees from Thebes and 
Livadia, some of whom have even preserved a part of their 
property, there is here no appearance of depopulation. There 
is even occasionally some inclination to gayety ; genuine, native 
hilarity will sometimes have its course in spite of circumstances, 
and the maids of Athens will dance their Romaic in the very 
face of misery. But it will scarcely be credited, that the cele- 
bration of the carnival is at this instant proceeding with great 
uproar and festivity. Drunken buffoons, harlequins, and painted 
jesters are riotously parading the streets, while Gourra's sulky 
Albanians sit frowning at the fortress-gate, and the Turks and the 
plague are preparing to rush dovra from Negropont and Carysto. 

" It is true, however, that this delirium is by no means univer- 
sal. Very many of the inhabitants are far too deeply sunk in 
wretchedness to respond to any voice of mirth. The pale and 
trembling figures of women, who stand like spectres by the walls 
of their falling habitations ; the half-naked and starving infants, who 
shiver at their breasts ; the faces of beauty, tinged with deepest 
melancholy, which timidly present themselves at the doors and 
windows of their prisons rather than their houses — objects such 
as these are so numerous, and so productive of painful sympathy, 
as to leave us little pleasure in the contemplation of the progress 
of revolution ; and Athens, however erect in her pride of inde- 
pendence, affords a very mournful and afiiicting spectacle." 

Count Pecchio landed at the Piraeus in the spring of the fol- 
lowing year. It was the time of barley-harvest, and the road to 
Athens was thronged with women and children coming from the 
city to engage in the labours of the field, and to secure their 
produce before the Turks, like locusts, should arrive to lay waste 
the country. After a two hours' walk, amid olive-trees and 
vineyards, he entered Athens. The streets were full ofpalikars^ 
but the houses were empty, the families and furniture being with- 



MODERN GREECE. 479 

drawn. General Gourra had given orders for the women and 
children to evacuate the city, and had placed the acropolis in a 
condition to sustain a two years' siege. " If, therefore," adds 
the Count, " the Turks should wish to gain possession of Athens 
by force, they would purchase with their blood only heaps of 
stones ; for, excepting a few houses, all the rest of the city is a 
ruinous wilderness." 

The temple of Minerva Parthenos in the acropolis, is still, how- 
ever, " the most magnificent ruin in the world." Though " an 
entire museum" has been transported to England from the spoils 
of this wonderful edifice, it remains without a rival. The history 
of this beautiful fabric is the history of Greece. First a temple 
sacred to the goddess of wisdom, it was next converted into a 
church consecrated to the idolatrous worship of the Panagia, 
and, lastly, was transformed by the Ottomans into a mosque. 
Alaric the Goth is supposed to have commenced the work of 
destruction. The Venetians, who besieged the acropolis in 
1687, threw a bomb which demolished the roof, and did much 
damage to the fabric. Since then, the Turks have made it a 
quarry, and virtuosi and noble antiquaries have more than 
rivalled them in the work of havoc and spoliation, destroying 

" What Goth, and Turk, and Time have spared." 

War and " wasting fire" will probably ere long complete the 
demolition of " Athena's poor remains." 

iEGINA. 

The neighbouring islands of ^gina and Salamis (now called 
Colouris) have hitherto escaped from the devastating fury of the 
Turks, and have repeatedly afforded shelter to the fugitive popula- 
tion of Attica.* The former, pronounced by Sir W. Gell 
" one of the most interesting spots in Greece," has of late years 
been rising into importance and prosperity owing to its connexion 
with the commerce of Hydra. The inhabitants had formerly 
lived chiefly in a city built by the Venetians upon a mountain in 
the interior ; but the love of commerce induced them to prefer 
the sea-shore, and they accordingly chose the site of the ancient 

* Mr. Waddington, speaking of Salamis, says : " That rock contains 11,477 
souls, whom the circumstances of the war have reduced to misery : of these, 
192 only are natives. The greater part are refugees from Boeotia : the rest are 
Livadians, with some few from Negropont and Aivali. During the period of 
the annual Turkish invasion, nearly the whole population of Attica is added to 
this list " Count Pecchio says : " This island, which has several times saved 
the ancient Athenians, gave an asylum in 1821, to full one. hundred thousand 
Greeks. At the beginning of the winter, when the Turks usually retire, the 
families return to their firesides, if the fury of the Turks has not destroyed them." 



480 MODERN GREECE. 

^gina. Here, in 1825, the emigrations caused by the Revo- 
lution, had assembled a mixed population of about 10,000 
Greeks from all parts. Mr. Waddington states the number of 
refugees from Scio, Aivali, and Livadia, at nearly 1200, of 
whom about a fifth were men. To these were subsequently 
added about 1 000 Ipsariots, who, after the catastrophe which 
befel their native island in 1824, sought an asylum here, where 
those who had preserved any property, continued to prosecute 
their maritime and commercial employments. Ipsara is an arid, 
sterile rock ; ^gina, on the contrary, is a beautiful island, fertile, 
well cultivated, and under a delightful sky ; yet still. Count 
Pecchio states, the Ipsariots sighed for their barren island. 

The temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, situated on a mount of 
the same name about four hours from the port, is supposed to be 
one of the most ancient temples in Greece. The approach, by 
a winding path ascending through rich and varied scenery, is^x- 
quisitely attractive, and nothing can exceed the beauty of the sit- 
uation. The ruin stands on the top of a wooded hill, of mod- 
erate height, but commanding a noble view of the greater part 
of the island, the whole of the Gulf, Salamis, and some of the 
more distant islands, the coast of Attica from the Scironian rocks 
to Cape Colonna,* the Parthenon and Eleusis. The temple is 
remote from any human habitation, and was formerly surrounded 
with shrubs and small pine trees.f " No ruin in Greece," Mr. 
Dodwell says, " is more rich in the picturesque, as every point of 
view has some peculiar charm." It originally consisted of thirty- 
six Doric columns, exclusive of those within the cella, six at 
each end and twelve on each side. Within the cella were ten 
smaller columns, five on each side, supporting the roof, the lower 
parts of which still retain their ancient positions. Twenty-five 
columns were left entire in 1806. The greater part of the 
architrave also was still remaining, but the cornice with the met- 
opce and triglyphs, had all fallen. The temple is bulk of a soft, 
porous stone, coated with a thin stucco, and the architraves and 
cornice were elegantly painted. The pavement also was found 
to be covered with a fine stucco, of a vermilion colour. The 
platform upon which it stands, has been supported on all sides by 
terrace walls. In the rock beneath, there is a cave, apparently 
leading under the temple, and which was doubtless once employed 
in the mysteries of the old idolatry. 

* To an Englishman, " Lonna's steep" has an additional interest as the ac- 
tual scene of Falconer's Shipwreck. 

t The trees have been cut down and the picturesque effect greatly injured by 
classical spoliators, " in order to facilitate the removal of the statues found 
beneath the ruins." 



MODERN GREECE, 481 

Before closing this volume, we will bring down the narrative 
of the principal events of the war in Greece, to the date of the 
latest intelligence from that country. Ibrahim Pacha having in 
August 1825, retired to Calamata, leaving a garrison of a thou- 
sand men in Tripolitza, and afterwards to Modon, waited for tlie 
arrival of reinforcements from Alexandria. Near the end of 
November, the combined fleet arrived, consisting of a hundred 
and ninety-one sail of vessels, of all descriptions, and bringing 
10,000 men, including 1200 cavalry. The next object of Ibra- 
him's efforts was to unite with the Seraskier, Reschid Pacha, in 
pressing the siege of JMissolonghi. Reschid witli an army of 
12,000 men had been for several months prosecuting this siege, 
assisted occasionally by the Turkish fleet, and the place was 
repeatedly represented as being on the point of surrendering. It 
was said in apology for the Turkish commander, that his Alba- 
nian troops wished to protract the siege for the purpose of pro- 
longing their term of easy and profitable service, and that, there- 
fore, after the most formidable obstacles were overcome, they 
refused to make a last effort for reducing the place. Ibrahim 
on the arrival of his reinforcements immediately set out on his 
march for Patras, leaving 1000 men at Modon, 2000 at Navarino, 
and sending 5000 to Tripolitza. He proceeded by way of 
Gastouni, which place he took possession of, on the 28th of 
November. On his march, in approaching a village protected 
by a morass, he became engaged with a body of Greeks, and 
a considerable number of Arabian horsemen were cut off. 

Col. Favier, an experienced French officer was employed at 
Napoli to raise a corps of recruits, and to discipline them in the 
European tactics. He proceeded in November, with eight com- 
panies of these troops to Athens, where he persevered in re- 
ceiving new recruits, and teaching them the discipline. In 
December the number of these troops amounted to 2000, and 
in January they were increased to 3000. He found that they 
learned the exercise with great facility, and they gave promise 
of forming excellent troops. Favier had the command of the 
town of Athens, and Goura of the citadel. Previously to this 
time, the Turks from Negropont made frequent incursions into 
Attica, and threatened to take the citadel. A party of Turks in 
one of these incursions surrounded a party of forty Greeks, un- 
der their captain Scourat Grioti, and compelled them to take 
refuge in a church. The Turks set fire to the church, and the 
Greeks were all destroyed. About this time the Turkish troops 
who had been some time at Salone, retired unexpectedly to 
Zeitun. Jussuf Pacha embarked from Patras with 160 men, 
61 



482 MODERN GREECE. 

and proceeded to Salone, and thence marched towards Athens, 
which he supposed had been occupied by the Turks. In big 
march he met a body of Greeks under Goura, Massi, and Tris- 
sioti, and suddenly retreated to Salone, where he re-embarked 
for Patras, with as many of his men as he could get on board of 
his boats. Sixty of his men were obliged to sun'ender, and were 
sent prisoners to Napoli. 

Ibrahim Pacha arrived at Patras in December, and there es- 
tablished his head quarters, having under his immediate com- 
mand about 12,000 troops. The army of Reschid already 
before Missolonghi, a short time before amounted to an equal 
number. The Turkish squadron of 70 vessels, soon came into 
those seas and co-operated with these two armies, in transport- 
ing troops, and prosecuting the siege. Ibrahim, on the 14th of 
December, before leaving Patras, announced to the Greeks of 
Missolonghi that he was about to attack the place in person, and 
declared that if they would surrender he would treat them well, 
and afford diem protection, but that if they were obstinate, he 
would give them no quarter. He proceeded to transport his 
troops by means of the fleet, to the other side of the Gulf. It 
was arranged that the city should be attacked by the Turks and 
Albanians on one side, and by the Egyptians on the other. Ibra- 
him took the command exclusively, and Reschid retired, it not 
being practicable for two vizirs to command at once. 

From this time the siege was prosecuted with vigour. Va- 
rious incidents are related, which would deserve to be here re- 
corded, if we could place sufficient confidence in the authenticity 
of the various narratives. The besieged defended themselves 
with the most heroic bravery, suffering in the mean time most 
severely from want of provisions and from a scarcity of the mu- 
nitions of war. It was confidently stated, on the authority of 
letters from Constantinople, that in consequence of the represen- 
tations of the foreign ambassador's, the Porte was induced to 
send negotiators to the head quarters of Ibrahim Pacha, with 
authority to treat with the Greek chiefs for a cessation of hos- 
tilities. Other accounts stated that this measure had been taken 
in consequence of the representations of Ibrahim and his father. 
It was affirmed that the proposition which was to be made to the 
Greek chiefs was, that Ibrahim should remain in the military 
government of Greece with the command of the fortresses, but 
that each place should have a Lieutenant Governor, chosen by 
the Greeks from among themselves. It was stated that Husseim 
Bey, formerly inspector of the arsenal, and Nedib Effendi, agent 
to the viceroy of Egypt were charged with this mission. Whe- 



MODERN GREECE. 483 

ther any such proposition was ever meditated by the Turkish 
government is matter of doubt, it is very certain that it produced 
no useful result. Tiie two agents above named arrived at the 
head quarters of Ibrahim, but the object of their mission remains 
involved in doubt. There was no suspension of hostilities, but 
on the contrary a more vigorous prosecution of the siege. Several 
vessels laden with supplies for the place were captured by the 
Turkish fleet. The Turks succeeded in getting possession of 
a battery, but it was attacked with great bravery by the Greeks, 
and retaken at the point of the bayonet. About the first of Jan- 
uary a squadron of about fifty Hydriote and Spezziote vessels, 
under Miaulis and Sactouris, sailed for Missolonghi for the pur- 
pose of throwing supplies into the city. This expedition was 
partially successful, though the relief afforded was inadequate to 
the wants of the place. There appear to have been some skir- 
mishes between the liostile fleets, but amidst the contradictory 
accounts, it is difficult to determint^ which party gained the 
greatest advantage. 

On the 27th of January, Capt. Abbot of the British corvette 
Rose, anchored off Vasiladi, and proposed a conference with 
the authorities of Missolonghi on matters of importance. Per- 
sons were appointed to meet him. He explained the purpose 
of their meeting, by presenting the following letter. 

In the waters of Missolonghi, from on board his Britamiic,Majesty's corvette Rose, Jan. 27. 

Gentlemen — The Capitan Pacha has requested me to inform 
the Greek authorities of Missolonghi, that in the space of eight 
days from this, all the preparations will be ready to give the as- 
sault to that place ; but as the Capitan Pacha desires to avoid the 
effusion of blood, which must be the consequence of the town's 
being taken by assault, he wishes therefore to know if the garri- 
son of Missolonghi will capitulate, and, in that case, on what con- 
ditions. 

The answer given me by you I will send to the Capitan Pacha ; 
but I think it my duty clearly to inform the Greek authorities of 
Missolonghi, that I am not authorized to be the guarantee of the 
conditions which may be entered into, nor will I give my opinion 
on the expediency of accepting or refusing the above proposition 
of the Capitan Pacha. 

I have the honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient ser- 
vant, C. ABBOTT, Commander, 

To the Greek authorities of Missolonghi. 



484 MODERN GREECE. 

The Greek envoys on receiving this letter, returned to the 
cit)' greatly disappointed and displeased, and immediately sent 
the following answer. 

" Sir — We have the honour to reply to your letter of the 
27th inst. in which you lay before us the proposition which you 
were charged by the Capitan Pacha to communicate to us. And 
this is our answer to that proposition, which has for its object the 
conclusion of a peace between us : 

" The Capitan Pacha is well aware that the Greeks have suffered 
unheard of misfortunes, shed streams of blood, and seen their 
towns made deserts ; and for all this nothing can compensate, 
nothing can indemnify them, but liberty and independence. And 
as for the attack with which he threatens this fortress in eight 
days time, we are ready for it, and we trust with the help of God, 
that we shall be able to oppose it, as we did that of Reschid 
Pacha, last July. The Capitan Pacha is also aware that we have 
a Government, in compliance with whose decree we are bound to 
fiffht and die. To that Government let him, therefore, address him- 
self, and negotiate peace or war. 

" We have the honour to subscribe ourselves with respect (for 
the Provisional Commissioners of the affairs of Western Greece, 
and for all the Military and Civil Chiefs,) 

" D. THEMELIS, 
" In the absence of the Secretary General, 
"N. PAPADOPOULOS. 

" Missolonghi, IBth (27th) Jan. 1826. 

" To Capt. Abbott, Commander of the English corvette Rose " 

The editor of the Greek Chronicle, which was still print- 
ed in Missolonghi, expressed great indignation, that an Eng- 
lish officer should be instrumental in making this proposal, A 
similar one had been made in July preceding, from the Capitan 
Pacha, through the commander of an Austrian frigate, " but 
that," remarked the Greek editor, " did not astonish us, for we 
knew that Capt. Bouratovitch was an Austrian. But we were 
overcome with grief, and wept on reflecting that an Englishman 
could offer himself as an agent to the Capitan Pacha, and pre- 
sent with his own signature, such propositions to the Greeks." 

The assault threatened in the foregoing letter, if made, did 
not prove successful. In March Ibrahim succeeded in gaining 



MODERN GREECE. 485 

possession of the little fort of Vasiladi, situated in the harbour of 
Missolonghi, about half a league in advance of the city. The 
possession of this fort enabled the Turkish commander to cut off 
more successluily the supplies which the Greeks were constantly 
attempting to throw into the place, and of which the inhabitants 
were in great want. The garrison, however, persisted in refusing 
to listen to any proposals of surrender. On the 17th of March 
Sir Frederick Adam, Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian 
Islands, proceeded in the Naiad, Capt. Spencer, to the camp 
before Missolonghi, and had a conference of two hours with 
Ibrahim Pacha in his tent, in the presence of the Seraskier and 
the two commissioners from the Porte, Husseim Bey, and Red- 
schid Effendi. In this conference he solicited Ibrahim to per- 
mit the women, children, and old men to leave Missolonghi un- 
molested. Ibrahim declared himself ready to do this if the place 
would surrender, and the garrison lay down their arms, in which 
case tliey should be permitted to retire unhurt, as well as the 
garrison of Anatolico. The proposal was rejected by the be- 
sieged, on which Gen. Adam re-embarked, and left Missolonghi 
to its fate. This transaction is related on the authority of the 
Austrian Observer. Sir Frederick Adam was shortly after- 
wards in Paris, where he spoke with enthusiasm of the brave de- 
fence of Missolonghi, and expressed strong hopes that the gar- 
rison would hold out to the end. 

Besides the extreme difficulty of conveying provisions to the 
relief of the besieged, the Greeks suffered severely from the 
distressing scarcity of provisions in the country. So large a 
portion of the country had been devastated by the enemy, and 
so many people were compelled to rely for subsistence on the 
charity of those among whom they took refuge, that the soil did 
not afford adequate means of subsistence.* This state of things 

* The following leUer from an European paper affords one of the many 
evidences of the extreme pt'ivations of the Greeks, in consequence of the ravag- 
ing of the country by the enemy. 

''LEGHORN, April 12. 
" A vessel from the Levant, reports having seen, on the islands De la Sa- 
pience, or the Strophades, more than twenty thousand women, children, and 
old men, all escaped from the Peloponnesus. These unfortunate people, who 
fled in the month of December last, when Ibrahim Pacha crossed Trvphylia 
and Elis to go towards Patras, have passed the winter living upon grains and 
other articles of food that they brouglit with them. These resources are ex- 
hausted ; since the month of March, they have lived upon roots and boiled 
leaves, which they sometimes mix with a handful of meal. This unhealthy 
and scanty nourishment has produced among them disorders which have de* 
stroyed more than five thousand ; for, at first, there were more than twenty- 
five thousand refugees. A dreadful typhus also threatens to carry off the 



486 MODERN GREECE. 

being made known to some of the active friends of Greece in 
EurojDe, funds were immediately raised for procuring supplies. 
Mr. Eynard of Geneva, who had before contributed personally 
50,000 francs in aid of the Greek cause, made a further liberal 
contribution, the Greek Committee of Paris, on his representa- 
tion voted 60,000, and that of Amsterdam added 30,000. Ves- 
sels were sent successively from ports on the Adriatic, with 
provisions for the relief of Missolonghi, and of the Greeks gene- 
rally. Repeated attempts were made from Zante to introduce 
these supplies into Missolonghi, some of which were successful, 
and others failed. An agent of the Paris committee, in writing 
from Zante, April 4, said, "Every day I succeed in throwing 
provisions into Missolonghi. There are many difficulties, but 
the zeal of our seamen knows how to surmount them. All our 
ne\NS is favourable." Another letter from the same agent, April 
6, said, "Up to the present time every thing is in favour of the 
besieged ; Ibrahim attacks every day with perseverance, and 
every day is beaten. His loss must be more than 8000 men. 
His camp has been burnt, and his men are discouraged. At this 
moment a strong cannonade is heard, but we feel no uneasiness. 
The garrison is all remounted, and has received provisions." 

These hopes were too confident. It was not in the power of 
the friends of Greece much longer to convey to the heroic de- 
fenders of Missolonghi, the means of subsistence. The Greek 
fleet under Miaulis, however, made one further attempt to afford 
supplies. It sailed from Hydra in April, and on the 1 2th, ar- 
rived in sight of Missolonghi. On the 15th an engagement took 
place, in which the Greek fleet gained some advantages, but not 
of so decisive a character as to enable them to throw provisions 
into the city. Ibrahim from this time directed all his attention 
to prevent the introduction of supplies, by means of small ves- 
sels from Zante, and on the following day flat-bottomed boats 
and rafts, armed with heavy artillery, were stationed in such 
manner as to cut off all communication. The besieged, who had 
for a long time been sustained by the scanty supplies daily re- 
ceived from Petala, and Porto Soro, were now reduced to the 
most deplorable situation. On the 17th and 18th, several wo- 

remains of this wretched people. Recommend to the public charity these poor 
Christians, who have crowded about a cross, to which they have attached their 
supreme and last hope. There are some thousand others who have retired to 
the island of Prodano. Take pity on their miseries. To give them any effica- 
cious assistance in provisions, and to know how they should be distributed, 
communications must be addressed to Count Mercati, at Zante, who will afford 
the means necessary to their arriving at the proposed destination. 

Boston Daily Mvertiser, June 16. 



MODERN GREECE. 487 

men, children and old men died of hunger. On the four suc- 
ceeding days the horror of their situation increased every hour. 
No one, however, thought of surrendering, but mines were pre- 
pared, in various parts of the city, as the engines of selt-ilestruc- 
tion. On the 21st and 22d, Miaulis again attacked the Turkish 
fleet. But what could his squadron of litde vessels do, against 
six ships of the line, eight or ten frigates, and ninety other vessels? 
Ail dieir efforts were fi'uitless, and not a single vessel laden with 
provisions could enier tiie town. With the failure of these at- 
tempts, tlie besieged saw their last hopes vanish. On the 22d 
they went to the church, where they received absolution, which 
was granted to them by Joseph, Bishop of Rogous, amidst the 
tears of the women and children. At ten in the morning this 
ceremony was finished. They shared what remained of the 
boiled roots, fish, and food in tiie city, and each held himself 
ready to go forward and die. A few minutes after midnight, about 
two thousand men, accompanied by a number of women, and 
several children, who had previously resolved on making a sortie, 
advanced in silence towards the batteries of the enemy. They 
did not find them off their guard, but were met with determined 
bravery, and a dreadful carnage ensued. Of the Greeks, who fell 
with impetuosity upon the Turkish lines, about 500 lost their 
lives on the spot, and the rest of the party escaped to the moun- 
tains. Of those who remained in the city, consisting principally 
of the infirm, and of women and children, to the number of more 
than 1000, some blew themselves up by the mines placed for the 
purpose, some drowi~jed diemselves, many were slaughtered by 
the enemy, who at break of day entered the city, and 130 who 
shut themselves up in a strong house, defended themselves 
through the whole of the next day, making a great carnage of 
the attacking Egyptians, and at length when exhausted by fa- 
tigue, and want of food, blew themselves up, at the moment 
when they were about to fall into the power of the enemy. About 
a hundred and fifty men, and three thousand women and chil- 
dren, were returned as prisoners. These were mostly carried to 
Prevesa and Arta, where they were sold, at a low price, like 
cattle. The loss of the Turks was severe, but the number has 
not been ascertained. Among the killed was Husseim Bey, one of 
the most efficient of Ibrahim's officers. The Greeks who escaped 
in the sortie, retired by the way of the Isthmus of Corinth and 
finally reached Napoli, worn down with fatigue, robbed of their 
homes and their families, and destitute of every thing.* 

* This narrative is extracted from a gi-eat variety of accounts, which differ 
from each other considerably in many of the details of this disastrous event. 



488 MODERN GREECE. 

Thus terminated this memorable siege, after a resolute and 

persevering defence which has few parallels in history. The 

, steadiness with which the garrison and inhabitants resisted all 

attempts to induce them to make a voluntary surrender, may 

be considered an additional proof to the many which the war has 

Some of them represent the carnage of that awful night as still more dreadful 
than is here related. The account published in the Oriental Spectator, says 
that the old men, the wounded, and the women and children, who remained in 
the city, had retired to a vast building, where, seeing themselves surrounded 
by their conquerors, they set fire to a mine which had been dug under them, 
and they were no more. Another account, as it difi'ers still more from those 
which we have followed in the text, we here subjoin. It was published at 
Malta, as translated from an account written by an officer in the suite of one ' 
of the Turkish commanders, dated April 23. 

" Yesterday, Saturday the 22d April, about six o'clock in the evening, Ca- 
raiscachi having reached the tops of the mountains Carasora, with about 500 
of his men, they fired a volley, as a signal to the rebels of Missolonghi of 
having come to their assistance. The garrison of Missolonghi having de- 
cided to retire from that place, they made the necessary preparations, and 
hoped to succeed without being perceived by our troops ; and about three 
hours after dark, they directed the two chieftains, Macri and Becacello, to 
make a sortie with 800 men, and to attempt to gain possession of one of our 
batteries, situated on the sea shore leading towards the Convent, which was 
manned by the Arabs. They did this in the view, that after having taken 
possession of the battery, they might open the way to the remainder of the 
garrison and their families, and escape unperceived. More than a thousand 
women and children, who were unwilling longer to remain in the town, fol- 
lowed these two chieftains, armed and dressed as males, with the hope of being 
able to make good their flight , having reached the battery, they were not able 
to stand against the continued fire of the Arabs, and attempted by flight to 
reach the mountains without being discovered by our commanders ; but in this 
they were disappointed, for Rumely Valesy, and his brother Morea Valesy 
Pacha, had taken every precaution when they saw the flashes of the musketry 
discharged by the men under Caraiscachi, feeling convinced from the reports 
of the prisoners respecting the want of provisions in the town, that a flight 
would be attempted, and had not failed to reinforce our troops at the diflerent 
forts, and to line all the country at the foot of the mountains with regular and 
irregular troops, infantry and cavalry. 

" The above mentioned chieftains in their flight to the mountains were thus 
met by our troops, and in the hopes of relieving themselves of their superflu- 
ous loads, and escape, they put to death 800 women and children, (as unable 
to keep company with them,) and fled up the mountains, crying out to each 
other to save themselves as well as they could. 

" The remainder of the Greeks, who waited in Missolonghi until the cap- 
ture of our battery, observed that their two chieftains had taken flight, and 
.got so alarmed and confused that they abandoned their posts. Four hundred 
of them shut themselves up in the wind-mill, and above 500 others took refuge 
in their different batteries on the shore ; the rest dispersed themselves in par- 
ties of tens and twenties, and were all put to death by the continued firing 
which was kept up. 

" Our troops observing the confusion of the rebels, rushed in, part by sea, 
and part by land, and took possession of the fortifications, and as a signal of 
their success, set fire to them in different places. At this time, many women 
and children, who were without pi'otection, in order to escape being taken by 
our people who were coming up to them, ran to the ditches and drowned 
themselves. 



MODERN GREECE, 439 

afforded, that the Greeks, although they may he in thne exter- 
minated by a vastly superior power, cannot be brought to sub- 
mission, under the most appalling circumstances, to the Ottoman 
yoke. Oi'the suflerings endured by the inhabitants of this rich 
and populous city, the world knows litde, as no satisfactory ac- 
count of the incidents of the siege has been published. The 
following letter from Mr. Mayer, a Swiss, and one of the hundred 
and thirty persons who perished in the last defence of Misso- 
longhi, written a few days before his death, will serve to show 
the spirit which animated the inhabitants. 

"The labours which we have undergone, and a wound which 
I have received in the shoulder, while I am in expectation of one 
which will be my passport to eternity, have prevented me till 
now from bidding you my last adieu. We are reduced to feed 
upon the most disgusting animals — we are suffering horribly with 
hunger and thirst. Sickness adds much to the calamities which 
overwhelm us. Seventeen hundred and forty of our brothers 
ai'e dead. More than a hundred thousand bombs and balls, 
thrown by the enemy, have destroyed our bastions and our 
houses. We have been terribly distressed by the cold, for we 
have suffered great want of wood. Notwithstanding so many 
privations, it is a great and noble spectacle to witness the ardour 
and devotedness of the garrison. A few days more, and these 
brave men will be angelic spirits who will accuse before God the 
indifference of Christendom for a cause which is that of religion. 
All the Albanians who had deserted from the standard of Re- 
schid Pacha, have now rallied under that of Ibrahim. In the 
name of all our brave men, among whom are Notha Bot^aris, 



" Our troops having' received orders to subdue the town that night, and to 
put to the sword all they might met with, rushed into the town of Missolong- 
hi, and either took prisoners or destroyed all whom they found. Many women 
and children were taken prisoners. The 500 Greeks who were above mentioned 
as liaving shut themselves up in the batteries on the shore, were then attacked, 
and after considerable firing, in the space of two hours were all destroyed. 

" After this none were left, except the 300 who were shut up in the wind^ 
mill. These were then assaulted by our people, and the rebels (most of them 
officers) observing their imminent danger, set fire to their gunpowder and 
blew themselves up 

" The destruction of the rebels has been unexampled — their numbers killed 

in the town are reckoned at .., 2100 

Killed at the foot of the mountain, ...... 500 

Taken alive in different parts, (men,) ...... 150 

Women killed, 1300 

Women and children drowned, ....... gOO 

Women and children taken prisoners » _ - - . - - 3400 

Total, 8250 
See Boston Daily Mvertiser, Sug. 15, 1826. 
62 



490 MODERN GREECE. 

Tzavellas, Papadia-Mautopolas, and myself, whom the govern- 
ment has appointed general to a body of its troops, I announce 
to you the resolution, sworn to before heaven, to defend foot by 
foot the land of Missolonghi, and to bury ourselves, without lis- 
tening to any capitulation, under the ruins of this city. We are 
drawing near our final hour. History will render us justice — pos- 
terity will weep over our misfortunes. 1 am proud to think that 
the blood of a Swiss, of a child of William Tell, is about to min- 
gle with that of the heroes of Greece. May the relation of the 
siege of Missolonghi, which 1 have written, survive me. I have 
made several copies of it. Cause this letter, dear S***, to be 
inserted in some journal." 

In the mean time, the inhabitants of other parts of Greece were 
not idle spectators of these events, though their efforts were in a 
great degree paralyzed by a want of harmony, and by a dread- 
ful scarcity of provisions. Colocotroni made an attempt to get 
possession of Tripolitza, by a coup de main, but he did not suc- 
ceed, and he retreated and established his head quarters, with 
about 2000 men at Aigos. 

Col. Favier, having formed a little army of 2000 regular 
troops, cavalry, artillery and infantry, attempted an expedition 
into Negropont. He marched his troops to Rapht, where they 
embarked, and shortly after landed at Stura, in the island of 
Euboea, in front of Marathon. He then marched immediately 
upon Caryrto, where there was a Turkish garrison. He took 
possession of the town and ordered an assault of the garrison, 
which was in part successful, but the Turks having manned a 
heavy battery turned it with effect upon the Greeks, and obliged 
them to retire. The Turks soon received a reinforcement of 
1500 men, commanded by Omer Pacha, gov^ernor of Negropont, 
and Favier, after several engagements, in which he lost a num- 
ber of his officers, and after exhausting his ammunition, and pro- 
visions, was obliged to send for assistance. A number of vessels, 
with irregular troops under Grissotti and Varse were sent to his 
aid, and he again advanced on Carysto. But it was at length 
resolved to retreat, and the troops were re-embarked, the cavalry 
and artillery for Marathon and Athens, and the infantry for the 
island of Andros. The cavalry in this expedition were com- 
manded by Renard de St. Jean d'Angely. D'Angely found no 
other opportunity of signalizing himself, and in the following 
August he returned to Paris, accompanied by a son of Petro 
Bey, a Maniote chief. 

On the 18th of April the Representatives of the several Greek 
provinces met at Epidaurus, forming what was called the third 



MODERN GREECE. 491 

National Assembly. They had been but a few days in session 
when they received the news of the capture of iVlissolonghi, and 
of the preparations of the enemy for further enterprises. With 
the hope of calling into action the energies of the people with 
tlie greatest promptitude and efficacy, they resolved to concen- 
trate all the powers of government in a commission, consisting of 
the following persons, Petro IVIavromichalis, Andreas Zaimi, A. 
Delijannis, G. Sesseni, Spiridion Tricoupis, Andreas Jacos, Jo- 
hannes VJachos, D. Tzamados, A. H. Anargynos, A. Monarchi- 
des, and E. Deinetriacopulos. Zaimi was appointed president. 
The duration of this commission was limited to the end of the 
following September, when the representatives of the people 
were to meet again. Having published this arrangement, in an 
address to the Greek nation, in which they call upon them to 
obey the government thus established, and to unite their efforts 
in accomplishing the great end of their struggle, they dissolved 
the assembly, after publishing also the following declaration. 

" The Representatives of the different provinces of Greece, 
assembled at Epidaurus, and legally and regularly convened in 
the third National Assembly, having adopted plans tending to 
promote the interest of the people, and unanimously decided 
upon that which present circumstances demand, and upon the 
necessary mode of carrying their decisions itito execution, pre- 
vious to the prorogation of their labors, as ordained by the de- 
cree No. 4, offer in the first place to the throne of the JMost 
High, humbly and submissively, the tribute of the most sincere 
and heartfelt thanks of the Greek nation, which devoutly trusts 
in him, and which, although he in his wisdom has submitted it 
to bitter trials, he has not for a moment forsaken, during the 
course of its long and arduous struggle, but has looked down 
upon it from on high, and evinced to it his divine power and the 
glory of his sacred name. 

" Having, from the depths of their hearts, performed the duty 
of testifying their gratitude towards the Omnipotent Providence, 
they proclaim, in the name of the Greek nation, its unanimous 
and undivided determination to live and die amidst all the chances 
of war, in firm adherence to the holy precepts of the Christian 
religion, in defence of their country, and that they will unceas- 
ingly struggle to deliver Greece, which a long despotism has pol- 
luted and enslaved, and which barbarism has profaned. 

" The Greek nation hopes that its heroic devotion and its bril- 
liant deeds, in the midst of the most depressing trials, which 
have proved to the potentates of Christendom, that which at the 
beginning of their contest, they by discourse and invocations 



49^ MODERN GREECE. 

failed to express, namely — that the Greek nation did not take 
up arms to establish its political existence on revolutionary prin- 
ciples, which monarchical Europe cannot admit of, or to appro- 
priate to itself a foreign country, or to subject other nations; but 
to deliver itself from that which is by some wrongly denominated 
Turkish legitimacy, which the Greek nation never acknowledg- 
ed, and which the Porte itself never imagined that it possessed. 
The Greek nation did not arm itself to violate its oaths, or to 
transgress its duty and/)bligations, for it never swore fealty to the 
Sultan as his captive slave, nor did the Sultan ever exact as a 
master those oaths by force or iolence : nor do the Hellenians 
fight to subvert those institutions which have social order for 
their basis ; for it is notorious that they had no institutions or 
laws but the word of the Sultan. The Greek nation in taking 
up and retaining their arms, sought and still seek die glory of the 
Christian name, which was, together with its clergy, persecuted 
and condemned. It seeks the perfect independence of the land 
of its ancestors, of which violence and force alone deprived it. 
It seeks freedom and a political existence, of which it has been 
despoiled ; in a word, it wishes to avoid subjection to any nation 
whatever. 

" These are the objects for which the Greek nation combats ; 
for these alone it sees, placidly and without yielding, its cities and 
its villages deluged with blood, its country made a desert, thou- 
sands of its members dragged to slaughter, thousands into slavery 
and debasement ; for these, alone, with a firm determination, it 
has dared to prefer the loss of its most valued relations to a re- 
lapse into the power of the Turkish tyranny. 

" The representatives of the Greek nation consider it their duty 
to proclaim these things openly to those who are attached to the 
name of Christ, and whose hearts beat responsive to the gene- 
rous sentiments and the unchangeable resolution of the Greek 
people. They entertain a fervent hope that the monarchs of 
Europe, who exercise dominion under Christ, convinced of the 
equity and justice of their contest, will, in this appalling hour, cast 
an eye of pity on an unfortunate nation, whose sufferings arise 
from its professing and maintaining a similar creed as themselves. 

" The representatives of Greece proclaim aloud the above in 
the face of GBd and man, and in relinquishing their labour as 
members of the national assembly until next September, they 
offer up their supplication with confident hopes and humble 
prayers to the throne of the Almighty, and solicit his omnipotent 
benevolence to look with an eye of mercy on the dangers of his 
creatures, and to shed the rich effusions of his clemency on the 



"MODfiRN GREECE. 493 

Greek nation, which considers him as its only hope, its sole 
reliige, and last resource. 

The President of the Assembly, 
(L.S.) PANUTZOS NOTARAS. 

The Secretary General, 
A. PAPADOPULOS. 

Given at Epidauius, April I61I1 (28th.) 

Soon after the destruction of Missolonghi, the fleet of the 
Capitan Pacha returned to the Dardanelles, where it remained 
ina<nive for more than two months. Ibrahim returned with the 
greater part of his troops to Patras, and a long period elapsed 
before he attempted any further movement. Indeed he ac- 
complished nothing of any importance during the whole summer 
and the succeeding winter. He marched a part of his troops 
upon Calavrita and Tripolitza, and part upon Modon. His ef- 
forts appear to have been paralyzed by the losses sustained by 
him, by the plague which prevailed in several of the garrisons, 
particularly at Modon, and the want of provisions, for which he 
was entirely dependent on supplies from Egypt. He was also 
hi.mself dangerously ill, for twenty days, at Modon, in July. 
So remarkable was his inactivity that it was suspected to arise 
from indisposition, on the part of his father the viceroy, to a 
further prosecution of the war. This supposition however has 
not yet been proved by any satisfactory evidence. On the 
contrary, considerable efforts seem to have been made to send 
supplies and reinforcements. In July 32 transports, escorted by 
8 ships of war, arrived at Modon with provisions, and 4000 
Ai'ab troops, and immediately after, preparations were made for 
still further reinforcements. 

Reschid Pacha was succeeded in the command by Cutay 
Pacha, as Seraskier of Rouraelia. He advanced into Livadia, 
and after a good deal of delay took possession of Thebes. At 
lengdi with a large army of Turks and Albanians, and in con- 
junction with the army of the Pacha of Negropont, he marched 
into Attica. An attack upon Athens had beon long expected, 
and many of the inhabitants retired to the neighbouring islands. 
In the beginning of August the Turkish army, in three bodies 
nearly surrounded the city, and established their advanced posts 
within gun-shot of the walls. They occupied themselves in 
erecting batteries on the back of the Pnyx, where they mount- 
ed three 48 lb. cannon, with several of smaller dimensions, to 
bombard the city and the acropolis. The Greeks however kept 
post on the hill of the museum, under the protection of the can- 



494 MODERN GREECE. 

non of the acropolis, and a strong garrison, with several Greek 
captains, entered that fortress. Among the captains was Mastro 
Casta, a very skilful miner. 

The Greek captains before this time had been making pre- 
parations to march against the Seraskier, and for that purpose 
had assembled a large number of troops at Salamis. While the 
Turks were erecting their batteries, Karaiskaki with a thousand 
men went from Salamis to Eleusis, where he maintained himself 
against the repeated attacks of the light troops despatched against 
him from the Ottoman camp. Archondopolo, with several 
hundred men landed near Megara, and threw himself into the 
mountains of the isthmus. The captains who remained were 
joined at Salamis on the 10th by the Ionian phalanx of four 
hundred men, commanded by Omarphopolo. This corps was 
formed two months before, and consisted of the Greeks of Asia 
Minor and the Archipelago, who were in the Morea. It was 
governed by a council of 15 members, and a commander of 
their own choice, and had a common treasury, with a fund for 
the support of widows and orphans of the members who should 
fall in the service. On the same day, also. Col. Favier arrived 
with 1500 Tacticos as they were called, from Methana, where 
he had been encamped. On the 11th of August all these forces 
sailed for the Pireus where they landed without opposition. 
From there they advanced across the wood of Olives which 
covers the plain, directing their course towards the camp which 
was established near the academy. In the mean time, Karais- 
kaki advanced by the Eleusis road. The whole of this day was 
employed in making these movements and preparing for the 
batde of the succeeding day. 

At day break on the 12th, Favier marched with his corps on 
the left, while Karaiskaki advanced in good order on the right. 
The Roumeliotes formed the centre, and the Ionian phalanx was 
destined to form a reserve, and to sustain the first of the three 
bodies that might fall back. At the same moment Goura, who 
was acquainted with these arrangements made a sortie from the 
acropolis, and attacked the battery of the Pnyx with great spirit. 
But it was defended by the Turks with great obstinacy, and they 
retained possession of it. Goura pressed by superior numbers, 
after having lost several men, was obliged to retire into the for- 
tress. The battle was kept up with fury on both sides, for 
several hours, and with balanced success. Towards the middle 
of the day, Favier's corps, sustained by the Roumeliotes, suc- 
ceeded in taking possession of a mound, which was for a long 
time disputed, with a piece of cannon and two standards. The 



MODERN GREECE. 495 

advantage of the day remained with the Greeks, who, however, 
found tliemselves reduced to a single piece of cannon, out of four 
which they liad during the batde, the other three having burst. 
The next day, when the combat was about to be renewed with 
increased fury, Omer Pacha arrived with two thousand cavahy, 
and immediately began the charge. Favier ordered his troops 
to form a liollow square. They began to execute this manoeu- 
vre, but the charge was made with such impetuosity that the 
Tacticos, affrighted at the mass that seemed about to crush 
them, had not dme to form, and their ranks were broken. Fa- 
vier made vain efforts to rally them, and was bravely supported 
by the Philhellenians, who sustained the shock, but were almost 
all wounded. Tlie Roumeliotes also made a brave effort to sus- 
tain the battle, but an impulse had been given which it was im- 
possible to resist, and the disorder became general. The Turk- 
ish infantry fell upon Karaiskaki, who was obliged to retreat 
precipitately. The Turks took possession of the place where 
the Greeks had deposited the wounded of the day before, and 
they were all put to the sword. This battle was fought with 
more steady and persevering bravery on both sides than almost 
any since the commencement of the war. The Greeks were 
greatly out numbered by the enemy, particularly in artillery and 
cavalry. They had about 6000 infantry, and only 50 cavalry. 
The Turks immediately became undisputed masters of the city 
and the plain of Athens. The citadel remained in the posses- 
sion of Goura. 

The Turkish fleet remained in port at the Dardanelles until 
about the middle of July, when it sailed, to the number of sixty 
vessels, with a body of troops on board. Troops were also as- 
sembled on the Asiatic coast, subject to the orders of the Capi- 
tan Pacha, and it was supposed that an attack was to be made on 
some one of the Grecian islands. His movements, however, were 
so indecisive that it has not been ascertained to this day, what was 
his plan of campaign. It is probable that an attack upon Sanios 
was meditated. On the 8th of August he landed a part of his 
troops at Saiagik and sailed for Mytilene, where he remained 
with Ills fleet until the 19th. On the 21st, the fleet was seen 
under sail towards the channel of Scio, and on the 25th, directing 
its course towards Samos. Its movements were watched by 
Sactouris, who kept the sea with a fleet of 53 vessels; Miaulis in 
the mean time was occupied in transporting a body of Rourae- 
liote troops from Napoli to Hydra, which was supposed to be in 
danger of invasion. On the 26th the Capitan Pacha took on 
board his fleet 7000 troops at Saiagik, and sailed towards Samos, 



496 MODERN GREECE. 

but soon after finding that sickness prevailed to a great degree 
among the troops, he landed them at Scio, and proceeded with his 
fleet again to Mytilene, where he remained the greater part of the 
time at anchor until November, when he returned with his whole 
squadron to Constantinople. The Turkish and Grecian fleets 
were often near each other, and there are accounts of some con- 
flicts between them, but they are not of a sufficiently authentic 
character to enable us to rely with much confidence on the details. 
The Turkish fleet sustained some losses from storms and acci- 
dents.. 

In August the viceroy of Egypt began to prepare another 
grand expedition, to reinforce his son Ibrahim. To supply the 
losses in the Morea, constant recruits were necessary. These 
were obtained from his Arabian subjects, with little other cost 
than that of arming, training and aflbrding them subsistence. 
For the purpose of forming these recruits, and instructing them 
in the European tactics, for the subjugation of the Christian in- 
habitants of Greece, Mehemet AH kept in pay a large number 
of European ofiicers, principally Frenchmen. At the head of 
these officers was Gen. Boyer, who had attained some distinc- 
tion in the service of Napoleon. Before this expedition was 
ready to sail, Boyer, and most of the other foreign officers, quit- 
ted the service of the viceroy and returned to France. After 
many unexpected delays, a squadron of 70 vessels sailed on the 
17th of November, from Alexandria, and on the 1st of the fol- 
lowing month landed 7000 troops at Modon, of whom 600 were 
cavalry. This reinforcem.ent made more than 50,000 men 
transported from Egypt to the Morea, none of whom have re- 
turned, and two thirds of whom probably have already found a 
grave in Greece. 

Although Ibrahim had effected nothing of importance since 
the capture of Missolonghi, he did not remain endrely inactive. 
He made many marches with a portion of his troops, and found 
some employment in repelling the various attacks upon him, by 
Colocotroni and other Grecian chiefs. In August he marched 
into Laconia, and after taking possession of Mistra, which is 
near the ruins of Sparta, he entered the territory of Mania, 
where he took possession of a number of villages. He here 
was engaged in several conflicts, but whether of a very serious 
nature it is difficult to determine. According to the Oriental 
Spectator, he burnt Marathonisi, and entered Scutari and seve- 
ral other towns. He afterwards returned to Tripolitza, where, 
with the remnant of his army, he remained for a long time in 
a state of inactivity. 



MODERN GllEECE.. 497- 

In the year 1825, an arrangement was made by the Greek 
deputies in l^ondon, who had the appropriation of the funds 
arising from the Greek loan, for the building and equipment of a 
number of steam vessels in England, and of two large frigates in 
the United States, to be placed under the command of Lord 
Cochrane, who stipulated to enter the Greek service. By va- 
rious unfortunate accidents, and the gross misconduct and bad faith 
of some of the agents to whom the execution of these arrange- 
ments was entrusted, the equipment of the vessels was delayed 
far beyond all expectation, and the despatch of a part of 
them was entirely defeated. Lord Cochrane, and the important 
reinforcement of these powerful vessels, were impatiently ex- 
pected in Greece, even before the fall of Missolonghi. At 
length on the 4th of September 1826, the Steam Boat Perse- 
verance, a fine vessel, with an engine of 80 horse power, 
with a powerful armament of ten sixty-eight pound cannon, and 
commanded by Capt. Hastings, arrived at Napoh. Her arrival 
was hailed with great joy, as affording the promise of further effi- 
cient succours of a like kind. On the 6th of December the 
Hellas, a fine ship of 64 guns, built at New York, arrived at 
Napoli, after a passage of 53 days, commanded by Capt. Gregory 
of the United States, under the direction of Contastavlos the 
Greek agent, and navigated by a crew of American sailors. 
She was filled with munitions of war, much more than were 
necessary for her own armament, and was in every respect ready 
for immediate service. From Napoli she sailed to Hydra, where 
her American crew was discharged, and she was placed under 
the command of Admiral Miaulis, who soon sailed with her to 
Egina, where the commission of government was then stationed. 
Little was effected by either of these vessels, for a considerable 
length of time, in consequence of the state of distraction in 
which the government and chiefs of the country were now in- 
volved, and which paralyzed all military eiForts. The Perse- 
verance, however, joined the fleet of Miaulis, and proceeded to 
the defence of Samos, where, if the expected attack had been 
made, she would probably have rendered efficient service. She 
afterwards made a short cruise, without falling in with the enemy, 
and returned to Syra on the 1 5th of December. 

The decree of the National Assembly of Greece by which an 
administrative commission was established, invested with all the 
powers of government, limited the duration of that commission 
to the end of September, when it was ordered that the Repre- 
sentatives of the people should resume their deliberations, and 
fix on a settled form of government. The same decree of the 
63 



498 MODERN GREECE* 

assembly named another commission consisting of members of 
that body, to call together the assembly at the appointed time, 
but it does not appear that any express authority was given them 
to fix the place of meeting. 

The administration of the provisional commission does not ap- 
pear to have been successful. No one respected their authority, 
and they were destitute of power to enforce their decrees. 
The mihtary chiefs paid little respect to the civil authority, and 
preserved little subordination among themselves. To this cause 
may be attributed in a great degree the want of efficiency, con- 
cert and consequently success in most of the military movements 
of the campaign. Napoli, for some portion of the year at least, 
was in a state of anarchy, while it was crowded with fugitives 
from the seat of war, destitute of resources, aiid wasting with 
famine and disease. The spirit of insubordination extended to 
Hydra, where the primates of the island lost their control over 
the populace, and for a time the greatest disorders prevailed. 
Piracy also increased to an alarming extent, and the government 
was una.ble to prevent many of the vessels of war from preying 
on the merchant vessels of other nations. Loud complaints arose 
from all the maritime nations of Europe, and the Greek govern- 
ment acknowledging their inability to suppress these piracies, the 
English, French, and Austrian squadrons in the Archipelago, 
turned their arms against the Greek vessels, guilty or suspected of 
piracy, and destroyed a large number of ihem. Such were the 
miseries arising from the wantof a stable and efficient government.* 

* The following letter from Constantino Jerostacha to Mr. Eynard, will 
show what apologies the Greeks make for these excesses of their countrymen. 

" The Greeks are on all sides accused of piracy. The government has done 
every thing in its power to prevent it, and has even punished some fathers of 
families whom wretchedness had reduced to the necessity of becoming pirates. 
But what can be answered to a whole population who cry for bread that can- 
not ,be given them ? If you knew the wretchedness of the people of Samos, 
Scio and Jpsara, you would shudder with horror and compassion. Are these 
unfortunate people so guilty in endeavouring to escape from being starved to 
death f And if they be guilty in the eyes of the governments of Europe, are 
not the latter a thousand times more guilty in the eyes of God for suffering a 
whole nation of christians to perish ? Until the Greeks be massacred or suc- 
coured, or conquerors, it will be impossible to prevent piracy, for the first law 
of nature is to exist, and the Greeks, abandoned to their own means, can only 
exist by the aid of the beneficent, or by taking food where they can find it. 
They have no other resource than death or independence ; for to return un- 
der Turkish or Egyptian dominion is death. They know they have no quar- 
ter to hope for on that side, and that treaties will ever be contemned by the 
followers of Mahomet. Let not then the powers complain of the piracy of 
famishing nations, or let them charge it upon themselves alone. All our vices 
and defects come from the Turks and the christians ; the former for haying 
treated us as slaves for three centuries, and the latter for having rivetted our fet- 
ters by favouring the Turks. If christian powers will not succour us, let 
t)iem at least openly aid the Turco-Egyptians, and our agony will be shorter." 



MODERN GREECE. 491) 

At the end of September the Representatives of the several 
provinces began to assemble for the purpose of reopening the 
National Assembly. An unexpected difficulty arose respecting 
tlie place of meeting. The commission of government proposed 
tliat the assembly should meet at the island of Egina, while Co- 
locotroni insisted that it should be held at Castri, the ancient 
Hermione, opposite to Hydra, the place of his residence, where 
he had established his head quarters. He was supported in this 
demand by Conduriotti, the late president, and others of his 
party. JMavrocordato for the purpose of reconciling the differ^ 
ence, proposed the island of Poros, an intermediate point. But 
the proposition was nor acceded to. The difficulty of settling 
this preliminary question, and the influence that was apprehend- 
ed, from the presence of the army at one place, and of the navy 
at another, prevented any meeting, and an efficient organization 
of the government. About sixty members assembled at Egina, 
but the number was not sufficient to form a quorum of the As- 
sembly. 

In iNTovember Colletti, a chief of considerable talents, and of 
great popularity among the Roumeliotes, undertook an expedi- 
tion to Euboea, hoping to find the Turks off their guard. He 
landed and made an attack upon the enemy, whom he found 
perfectly prepared to receive him. The battle ended by his 
being driven back on board his ships, and he returned without 
having accomplished the object of his enterprize. In the mean 
time the siege of Athens was going on, and was prosecuted with 
considerable vigour by Cutay Pacha. Goura who commanded the 
garrison was wounded by the bursting of a bomb, and was after- 
wards killed, being shot, it was said, with a musket by one of his 
own men. In consequence of this disaster, it became necessary to 
reinforce the garrison, and Col. Favier offered his services for 
the enterprise. On the 11th of December, at the head of 400 
men he entered the citadel without opposition, but the besiegers 
afterwards increased their vigilance, and by a strict blockade 
rendered communication from without with the besieged ex- 
tremely perilous. The Greek government made all possible 
efforts for the relief of the place, but the preparations for an attack 
were not completed until the 10th of February. Favier in the 
meantime made two sorties, in one of which he lost eight Philhel- 
lenians. At length a considerable force was assembled and a 
joint attack upon the besiegers was agreed upon. In assembling 
this force, material pecuniary aid was afforded by Col. Gor- 
don. General Karaiskaki had been occupied in cutting off the 
supplies of the besieging army at a distance, and following the 



500 MODERN GREECE'. 

movements of Omer Pacha whom he attacked, and after 
killing 800 of his men succeeded in shutting him up in close quar- 
ters at Distomo. Among the officers whose skilful co-operation 
was relied upon in the conduct of this expedition, was Col. Bur- 
baki. He was a Cephelonian by birth. He sprung from one of 
the first families of that island, and had lately returned to his na- 
tive country, to take a part in the struggle for its independence, 
after an absence of many years. He entered when quite young 
into the military service of France. He became at 22 years of 
age a chief of a battalion, and at 26 a Lieut. Col. He distin- 
guished himself in Spain, by defeating with 500 French troops, 
the Empicenado who was at the head of 5000 men, and by his 
conduct on this occasion, attracted the favourable notice of Na- 
poleon. After the peace in Europe he lived for a long time in 
retirement, until at length the sufferings of his country called so 
loudly for the aid of all her sons, that he resolved to go to her 
relief. This expedition afforded him the first opportunity of 
taking an active part. The steam boat Perseverance, com- 
manded by Captain Hastings also co-operated in the enterprise, 
by an attack on the port of the Pireus. A large body of troops 
took possession of Phalerum, one of the ancient parts of Athens, 
and Vasso with 2 or 3000 men took post at Lepsini the ancient 
Eleusis. On the 1 5th, the steam boat made an attack upon the 
Pireus, which was occupied by a body of Turks and Albanians. 
She succeeded in demolishing a part of the works occupied by the 
Albanians, but was at length so much injured by the cannon 
from the Monastery, that she was obliged to retire. The troops 
of Vasso, with Burbaki, and a number of Philhellenians ad- 
vanced into the plain of Athens, but in consequence of some 
want of co-operation on the part of the troops stationed at Pha- 
lerum, they were assailed by the whole force of the enemy's 
cavalry, and were compelled to retreat. Burbaki, unfortunately 
was mortally wounded, and with two French officers, and a 
German surgeon fell into the hands of the Turks. The con- 
test was kept up for several succeeding days near Phalerum, but 
without any decided success. Favier, however, continued to 
keep possession of the citadel, the Turks confidently anticipating 
its surrender from a want of provisions. In February he was 
seriously ill, but before the end of the month he was so far re- 
covered as to attempt a sortie. About this time the widow of 
Goura died. She was said to be a woman of remarkable beau- 
ty as well as of great spirit. After the death of her husband she 
kept in pay a body of palicari, under her own direction. Va- 
rious accounts have been given of the manner of her death, one 



MODERN GREECE. 501 

of which is that she was crushed by the fall of a part of the 
temple of Eiychtheiim, one of tlie columns which suf)|)orted it 
being struck by a chance shot from the enemy's battery. Ac- 
cording to another account, which seems less probable, she 
joined at the head of her troops in a sally which was made from 
the citadel, and was killed by the enemy, though her party suc- 
ceeded ia tlie object of their enterprise, and returned laden with 
provisions, and bearing with them the dead » body of this heroic 
woman. The Turkish troops appear to have been withdrawn 
from the Pireus, soon after the late attack, and it was occupied 
by the Greeks. Karaiskaki after having entirely defeated Omer 
Pacha, and taken all his baggage and artillery, advanced again 
into Attica, and on the 17th of March the attack upon the ene- 
my was renewed, when some advantage was gained, and again 
in April, with still more decided success. The accounts of 
these operations yet received are extremely defective and un- 
certain. 

About the middle of March, Gen. Church, a distinguished 
English officer, arrived at Castri, accompanied by Capt. Payne 
as Aid de Camp, and offered his services to the Greek govern- 
ment. About the same time Lord Cochrane, who had been 
long and anxiously expected in Greece, arrived, with an armed 
schooner and a brig of 22 guns, and was received with great en- 
thusiasm by the whole population. He applied himself first to 
composing the jealousies, and effecting a reconciliation between 
the opposing members of the government. A compromise was 
soon effected, by which the National Assembly met at Damala, 
an intermediate point between those which had been proposed 
by the several parties. They proceeded to appoint Lord Coch- 
rane to the chief command of the whole naval force of the coun- 
try, and Gen. Church to the command of the army. On the 
annunciation of this appointment, Admiral Miaulis addressed to 
the government a communication, which while it shows the utmost 
confidence in the new commander, gives proof also of great 
modesty, magnanimity and disinterestedness on his own part. 
" For these seven years," says Admiral Miaulis, " I have com- 
batted, without any interruption, along with my brethren, and 
with all my force, against the enemy of our country. Neither 
the consciousness of my incapacity, nor the greatness of the 
burden imposed on me by the country, have been able to terrify 
or make me hesitate. I consider it as the first duty of a citizen 
to do the utmost for the salvation of his country ; and I have al- 
ways endeavoured to fulfil this duty. If I have not always suc- 
ceeded, it has not been for want of good wiH. 



502 MODERN GREECE. 

" As well as all the nation, I have long founded my hopes on 
the arrival of the great man, whose preceding splendid deeds 
promise our country a happy issue out of the long and arduous 
struggle which it maintains. This man has arrived, and I con- 
gratulate the government and the whole nation on it. 

"The Greek marine may justly expect every thing from such 
a leader ; and I am the first to declare myself ready again to 
combat, and with all my might, under his command. This task 
will doubtless be difficult for me, on account of my age and my 
want of experience, yet my heart is contented : for it has never 
desired any thing but the happiness of the country. Begging 
the Supreme Government not to doubt the sincerity of my sen- 
timents, I remain witti the most profound respect, the very obe- 
dient patriot, 

Andrew Miaulis." 

With the arrival of Lord Cochrane, a new era in the Greek 
war seems to have begun. He immediately set on foot an ex- 
pedition, to include his own vessels, the American built frigate 
Hellas, the steam boat, and several Greek ships. The result of 
this expedition, and the particulars of various transactions of this 
period, are not authentically known at the date of this publica- 
tion. 

It is announced that the National Assembly has appointed 
Count Capo d'Istria, to the head of the civil government of 
Greece. He is a native of Corfu, who has been for many years 
in the service of the emperor of Russia, and under him held 
many distinguished appointments, among which were those of 
ambassador on several important foreign missions, and Secretary 
of State. He has for two or three years past resided at Ge- 
neva, excused from active service, it has been supposed, on 
account of his liberal opinions, but retaining an appointment un- 
der the Russian government. Should it prove to be a fact, that 
he has been invited to preside over the affairs of Greece, and 
should he accept the trust, much may be hoped, for the welfare 
of the country, from his talents, experience, and elevated char- 
acter. 

In the spring of this year, 1S27, five large vessels, fully load- 
ed with provisions, for the relief of the destitute inhabitants of 
Greece, the produce of contributions by benevolent persons in 
the United States, to the amount of nearly ^100,000, sailed for 
Greece, two from New York, two from Philadelphia, and one 
from Boston, under the care of intelligent agents, entrusted with 
the gratuitous distribution of these supplies, in the manner which 



MODERN GREECE. 503 

shall best promote the cause of humanity. May they safely 
arrive, and give additional sti'ength to the reviving hopes of 
Greece, by administering to tlie wants of the destitute, and af- 
fording an earnest of the sympathy which is felt in this western 
world, with a nation emulous of the glory of their ancestors, and 
struggling in the cause of freedom and religion. 



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